Acceleracers: The Deadly Truth
by Shadow of the Dragons
Summary: The Ultimate Race is over. Vert is missing. But questions still remain unanswered, and demand to be acknowledged. But maybe the truth shouldn't be heard. Maybe some stories shouldn't be told. Because the truth is that sometimes, the truth isn't just a bunch of words. Sometimes, the truth can be downright deadly.
1. 20 years ago

**Chapter 1: Twenty Years Ago...**

**Hi everyone! I finally got around to revamping this fanfic! Personally, I think that this newer version is a lot more interesting and easy to comprehend than the older one. I know some of you have read the other chapters that used to be published up here, but I would strongly recommend starting over here.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

It was a small alleyway, dank and dark, the golden rays of sun barely able to penetrate the barrier created by the tall buildings that seemed to stretch towards the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Dim lighting illuminated the small narrow path, the brilliance emanating from rows upon rows of dirty windows that were yellowed with age. The dirt road - though in truth, it was too narrow to be awarded such a title - was muddy from a recent rain, the gray clouds still dotting the sky. It was in this bleak setting that suddenly the sounds of laughter filled the air, echoing off of the walls of the man-made canyon. There was nothing to indicate the source, though intermingled with the curious phenomenon was the sounds of footsteps. The laughter was growing louder, the sound almost deafening in what usually was a tranquil - if gloomy - spot.

The source of the noise was soon revealed as two children turned the corner. One was a girl, the other a boy; and from the black hair and pale skin that they shared, they had to have been related. Neither could have been very old - the girl had to be about six, while the boy only appeared to be no older than three or four. Despite the fact that they were alone, with no parental supervision, they were perfectly at ease on the shadowy path; and the fact that they didn't hesitate in their run was a testament to the fact that they had been this way several times before.

"You can't catch me, Kurt!" The girl said with a laugh. She was in a remarkably good mood. Her mother had given the pair of them the day off, a rare occurrence for the two homeschooled kids. She loved having a day when she could just run around and play with her little brother. Being a child genius was a thankless profession, and it was certainly hard work when others expected her to always have the right answer. Sometimes, despite knowing it was illogical, she envied her little brother, who was not gifted as she was. Kurt was smart, to be certain, but not to the extent that she was. He was, after all, merely in Kindergarten, while she herself was taking high school level courses.

Her mother, however, had not wanted a six year old in the public high school, which was known for its violence and drugs. Not to mention that a six year old girl would stick out like a sore thumb, even if that six year old was smarter than half the kids that already went there. No, her mother had decided to homeschool her, and since she was doing it for one child, she had decided to do the same for Kurt. By the girl's way of thinking, that was fine by her. She didn't have to worry about long bus rides and high school bullies and the dreaded Freshmen Friday.

"Yes I can! Just you wait, Jay!" Kurt was putting in a valiant effort to get his older sister, but the girl's longer legs put him at a distinct disadvantage. The game continued on for several moments, the elder sibling always just ahead of the younger, until finally she slowed marginally and allowed her brother to tag her. After all, the game was no fun if she didn't let her brother win once in awhile.

This playful scene continued on for several more moments, until finally Jay held up a hand to stop it. The girl was paler than normal, her breaths coming in short gasps.

"Let me...catch my...breath…" She wheezed out. Kurt obliged her, coming to a stop and waiting for his older sister to recover. It didn't take long before some of the color came back into her ashen face, and her breathing became more even. Her heart rate, which had skyrocketed, slowly began to return to a semblance of normalcy.

"You okay, sis?" He asked, concerned for his sibling. Jay looked over at the boy sadly, noting the child-like innocence displayed on his young face. She couldn't bear to tell him the awful truth, so she put on her best poker face and shook her head.

"Oh, I'm fine Kurt." She said with a smile, lying through her teeth. "I simply haven't recovered all of my stamina from that cold I had last week. "You know, I was having trouble breathing due to inflammation and congestion in the bronchi." Kurt frowned, his face displaying the confusion he felt at the unfamiliar words.

"What are bronchi?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Bronchi are tubes in the body that act as passageways into the lungs." She replied. "And lungs are the organs that help you breath. I do believe I've recovered sufficiently enough. Do you want to keep on playing tag, or should we switch to a different game?"

He was about to answer when a loud ripping noise filled the air, and then a faint clunk as if someone had dropped metal onto the ground. Then a small explosion filled the air, a little column of smoke drifting skyward. As one, both brother and sister looked towards the noise.

"What was that?" Kurt wondered, worrying that it was perhaps one of the gangs that frequented the neighborhood. Jay, normally the calm and collected one of the group, grinned.

"I don't know." She said, her curiosity aroused. "But I want to. Let's go!"

With that statement, she ran off towards the sound of the noise, using the thin smoke to guide her.

"Wait for me, Jay!" Kurt hollered as he began to run after.

* * *

He caught up to his sister at an intersection between two alleys, the area lit a bit better due to more sunlight being able to find this cleaing in the city. It was somewhat large, maybe the size of a standard living room, and blocked in by the brick buildings surrounding it. The dirt plain was barren, save for some charred scraggly grass. However, a curious new addition to the area was what drew the siblings' attention.

A small crater had been formed in the scorched earth, perhaps a yard deep, or, if you asked anyone from the scientific community, a meter below the surrounding earth. The sloped sides met at the bottom of the depression, where a strange stone rested.

It was shaped like a ring, perhaps three inches high, with a diameter of another three inches, though it was thin enough to make it appear to be an oversized bracelet. Ornate carvings covered the sides, sometimes glowing a mysterious blue. Jay was staring at it intently, as if by looking at it alone she could glean knowledge of its purpose and inner workings.

"What is that?" Kurt finally asked.

"My first instinct would be to say it is a meteorite, since it is about the right size." The genius replied. "However, I would assume that the guess is wrong, since the impact and explosion were quite minimal. Since that is the case, I honestly have no clue as to what it could be."

"Do you think it's from aliens?" Kurt wondered. Jay rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"There has been no documented evidence that aliens exist, Kurt." She said. "What sightings there have been have either been dismissed as a hoax, or have little scientific evidence to back it up." She sighed. "You wait here. I'm going to go get it so we can show Mom and Dad."

With that statement, she carefully walked down the slope, sliding a bit on some of the steeper sections. A minute later and she was in the center of the crater, standing over the strange rock. Kurt watched nervously as his sister carefully leaned down and lifted the stone from the earth, noticing that it seemed to shine slightly as she removed it from its resting place.

"It's not that heavy." She announced as she observed her new treasure. She then frowned, however, as she got a closer look at the markings on the rock. "I could have sworn I saw it glow for a second, though I must have been mistaken. And these symbols sure remind me of something...I know I've seen some like them before…" She trailed off as she began trying to remember where she had seen the near duplicate markings. Kurt sighed.

"Let's go show Mom and Dad!" He said, pulling his sister out of her thoughts. Jay looked up at him once and nodded, before beginning to step out of the center of the crater.

As soon as her foot left the the deepest part of the impression, however, a brilliant black radiance enveloped her and she vanished.

Kurt gasped, shook his head, rubbed his eyes, even resorted to pinching himself a few times. No his eyes were not playing tricks on him, no his brain wasn't making things up. His beloved older sister had vanished.

"Jay?" He called, hoping that it was just a prank, and that any moment now his sister would appear from one of the dark alleys, laughing over her latest trick. "Jay?" No answer. "Jay, where did you go?"

Nothing, save for the whisper of the wind. It suddenly sounded ominous and foreboding, so unlike the friendly breezes that he was used to. Suddenly the alley was no longer a warm and welcoming place to him, but now dark and cold, filled with shadows that concealed something, anything that might spring out and attack him. Now that his sister was gone, the happiness and joy that she had brought with her seemed to flee, cast out by reality, the illusion of safety shattered to reveal the destructive place he inhabited.

Kurt turned and ran back down the alley, away from the site of the crash. The logical side of his brain – which told him that there was no way that this was possible and Jay was probably playing a prank on him– was drowned out by the irrational side, which was screaming that his sister had just vanished right in front of him.

The only thing that both sides agreed on was that he had to tell his parents. They would surely be able to do something about it.

He had no idea just how wrong he was…

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	2. 10 years ago

**Chapter 2: Ten Years Ago...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

A cemetery was always a dark and depressing place, haunted with the echoes of loved ones who had left this world for the next. A city for the dead, walled in by the tall wrought iron grates stained black; each tomb a house for that particular person or family, grassy footpaths serving as roads for the small amount of people who would visit the eerie place. Here and there were small mausoleums, the town halls and government buildings if one were to continue the grim metaphor, where the dead held their councils at night. A lonely American flag hung from the stainless steel pole, a modern installment in an otherwise ancient place. About three quarters of the stones were in various stages of decay, crumbling into dust, inscriptions erased by the hands of time. Here and there were makeshift memorials - a curious mix of flowers, wreaths, pictures, and small flags for veterans. It appeared to be the perfect scene for a film of gothic horror, emphasized even further by the thick wisps of mist that hovered mere inches above the ground, and the fine, light rain that had begun to fall.

Towards the back of this desolate and lonely place was a small family, consisting of four girls and two boys. One was obvious old - her back hunched over from days spent at the factory, her hair just beginning to be streaked with gray, though her companions were quite young. It was obviously a mother and her children, and they were all dressed in black from head to toe. The youngest children were crying, their salty tears joining their mothers, while the two oldest children stood there with their heads bowed in respect. The oldest girl held the youngest, who at this point had begun to wail, trying to calm the crying toddler. The old mother knelt and laid a single crimson rose before the slate stained stone they were gathered around, before rising to her feet. Though sorrow adorned her face, she turned and ushered her family out of the graveyard, heading back towards the entrance where they could see their next door neighbor standing by the black van he had driven them in. The freshly carved gravestone was left behind, the newest addition to the cemetery interred beneath it.

_Roberto Pasero_

_1954-1996_

_Loving father and husband_

* * *

The ride home was one spent in silence, all save for little Maru, who was still sobbing as young children often do. It was hardly her fault - she was hungry after the long funeral - though to the others the sound was deafening. Their neighbor, a kindly middle aged man, dropped them off at their small house before driving away.

Indeed, it was a small house, more suited for a family half their size. There were three bedrooms, a small living room, and a kitchen. The mother and father had shared one, the two boys another, and the three girls the third. They were immensely cramped, but with two minimum wage salaries, this house was all that they could afford. The mother, at this point quite exhausted and overwhelmed with emotion, excused herself and stepped into the room she would never share with her husband again, closing the door behind her, leaving her children in the small living area. Maru was still wailing, though the eldest daughter set about making her youngest sister a sandwich. When presented with the peanut butter and jelly creation - Maru's favorite food - the toddler quit her crying and began to eat. While she was occupied, the other siblings, who at this point were old enough to understand the gravity of their situation, turned their conversation to what they were going to do next.

"I'm heading off." The eldest said as she absentmindedly brushed a lock of her short black hair out of her eyes. "Maybe I'll go hop the border and get work in Mexico or something. What are you going to do, little brother?"

Her question was directed at the oldest boy, who scowled slightly.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Maria?" He demanded. "I'm not you're little brother! We're twins!"

"She's just messing with you, Tone." The second to youngest child replied with a sigh. "I'm planning on staying Mom and Maru. What are you going to do, Nolo?"

"I'm going with Tone!" Nolo said, allowing excitement to bleed into his voice, despite the events of the day. "He's going to teach me how to be a street racer!"

"First you need to be a little older, bro." Tone responded. "Wait a few more years, like when you turn 16 or something." Nolo frowned.

"But that's seven years away!" He protested.

"I agree with your brother, Nolo." Their mother's voice drifted into the room, muffled somewhat from the door, putting a halt to any arguments. "You aren't driving until you are old enough to do it legally. And no street racing for either of you. Got it?"

"Yes mother…" Neither Tone nor Nolo sounded thrilled about that proclamation, but they knew that their mother would not budge.

"Mom! Mom!" Three year old Maru, now that she wasn't distracted by her hunger, turned her attention to the situation at hand. She couldn't comprehend why her mother was locked away in her room, but she obviously wanted to fix whatever was wrong. Maria sighed and picked up her sister.

"Mom needs some time by herself right now." She explained. Maru pouted slightly, but didn't raise a fuss like the others were expecting her to.

"To think that this might be the last day we spend together." The second youngest said with a sigh.

"Cheer up, Talia." Nolo reassured her. "Tone and I will come back and visit."

"Yeah, I know…" Talia didn't sound convinced. "I'm tired. I think I'll just go straight to bed. Good night." With that, the six year old left the room and climbed up the stairs. Maru began to squirm until Maria put her down; and the three year old followed her sister, toddling after her on short, unsteady legs. Tone, Maria, and Nolo were now the only ones standing in the kitchen, and now that they were alone the conversation lost some of its forced light-heartedness.

"Admit it, Tono." Maria said, using her nickname for him. "You're already begun street racing." Seeing the look of protest on his face, along with the guilt in his eyes, she shook her head. "I've seen you. You've built up quite a reputation among the other underground racers.

"Yeah, well so have you!" Tone retorted. "You've been getting into your own races in your free time. You can't deny it! Besides, the two of us drew up the plans for our cars together!"

"Okay, I'm guilty of street racing." Maria admitted with a shrug. "Mom just doesn't know about it."

"She doesn't?" Nolo wondered, intrigued. It was unlike his siblings to go behind their parents' back. Maria shook her head.

"No, because unlike some people, I don't build a car that's obviously designed for racing and then store it in the garage." She replied.

"Paying for alternative places to park is too expensive!" Tone said defensively.

So find a better, cheaper place to store it." Maria retorted. Tone rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

"Antonio Fernando Roberto Armando Martinez Hernandez Cortez-Pasero!" Their mother opened up the door to her room, quite angry. "I thought I told you no swearing in the house!"

"Sorry mom!" He muttered while Nolo and Maria snickered quietly. Tone glared at them, and they quickly quieted.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again!" The door was slammed shut, their mother retreating back into the room. Silence descended on the house once more, until Maria broke it.

"When do the two of you leave?" She finally asked, secretly not enjoying the thought of being separated from her twin.

"Tomorrow morning." Tone replied. "I picked up enough money from my races to support the two of us out west for a few months until I can get a job." He sighed, before glancing at the clock. "Nolo, you should probably go get some sleep. We have a long drive tomorrow, and I want to get an early start."

"Okay." Nolo said through a yawn. "Good night." He quickly left, leaving the twins alone in the kitchen.

"Are you really going to Mexico?" Tone asked. Maria shook her head.

"Nah, I just said that so Mom wouldn't freak out." She replied. "I'll probably go further south. Maybe Peru, go see Machu Picchu or something like that. Or Venezuela. I've kind of wanted to try my luck in Caracas…"

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	3. The Sands of Time (Part 1)

**Chapter 3: The Sands of Time (part 1)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

"Good morning, Mr. Kitano!" Jette said cheerily as Taro came out of his room. The six year old was in a remarkably good mood, but then again he could not recall a time when she wasn't happy. Taro sighed.

"I told you that you could just call me Taro." He said quietly. Jette shrugged.

"I can't do that!" She protested. "Otherwise the other Mr. Kitano's going to get mad."

Taro sighed once more, and made a mental note to ask his father to speak to the girl. He was thirteen years old, for crying out loud. Taro would do just fine. Being called Mr. Kitano by a mere child made him feel old, and there just seemed to be something wrong with the whole situation.

"Jette, how many times have I told you not to bug Taro?" That was spoken by Jette's younger twin sister, Terra. The younger twin was more level headed than Jette, and was a bit of a rule breaker. She had refused to call him Mr. Kitano at all - not that Taro wanted anyone to call him that - and had stuck to a first name basis, save for around his father. If Taro's father realized that the younger girl didn't follow what he saw as proper protocol for staff, he'd be extremely upset.

Technically the two girls were not members of the staff that managed the day to day affairs of the mansion, but that didn't mean that they didn't work. Their mother - a tired old woman perhaps in her middle thirties - was one of the maids his father employed. The salary was not high, but her employer had remodeled two small rooms in the basement into bedrooms for the woman and her two daughters; and supplemented their income with room and board.

"She wasn't bugging me." Taro replied quietly to Terra's question, causing the girl to scowl. For some reason that Taro couldn't fathom, the girl quite disliked him. Jette grinned, causing her twin's scowl to deepen.

"I apologize for my lapse in judgment." She said stiffly before roughly grabbing her sister's arm and dragging her down the hallway. "Come on, Jette. We're needed in the kitchen."

"Okay!" Jette responded with a sunny grin directed at Taro. "Have a nice day at school, Mr. Kitano!"

Taro rolled his eyes before walking away in the opposite direction. Terra didn't relax until he had turned the corner and was out of sight, at which point she turned on her sister.

"Why must you always go around and cause trouble?" She demanded. "One wrong move, and mom will lose her job, and then we'll be out on the streets."

"He said it himself." Jette retorted. "I wasn't bugging him. I personally think he enjoys having me around."

"I highly doubt that." Terra muttered as the two continued towards the kitchen. "Look, let's just forget about it, alright?"

"How come you're so hostile around Mr. Kitano anyway?" Jette wondered. Terra glanced away, an uneasy look on her face.

"Let's just say I know things that you don't." She said before abruptly changing the subject. "Mom's not teaching us anything today, because Taro's father is having guests come over tonight, and Jarod needs all of us to help get ready for the event. We're to help out in the kitchens."

"Okay sis." Jette replied amicably. "I didn't do my homework last night anyway."

Terra sighed and rolled her eyes. She hated the situation her family was in. Their income, food, clothing, shelter...it was all tied to their mother's job as a maid for the rich James Kitano. The mansion that he, his son, and his wife lived in was huge, and having to live in it but at the same time not live in it was a frustrating situation. If any of them - her mother, her sister, or herself - made even one mistake, however, they would most certainly lose their only chance of survival.

That wasn't to say that life was bad for them. Despite living in a basement, it was warm and comfortable. They had three square meals a day, and James had allowed their mother access to the library in the mansion in order to educate her daughters. That had, in fact, been one of the stipulations of the job; that their mother pull her twins out of the public school system and educate them at home. An odd requirement, that is, until one took into account the secret. A secret that, as far as Terra knew, only she, her mother, and James knew of.

She only wondered what Taro would think if he realized that his younger sisters were living in their father's house.

* * *

"My name is Vert!" The nine year old blonde boy said in an annoyed tone of voice. His words were directed towards the six year old blonde girl who was sitting on the floor nearby.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Greenie!" She retorted brightly, a devilish grin on his face. The boy didn't seem to like that.

"Aurora!" He protested. Aurora tipped her head to the side, staring at her cousin with wide eyes.

"Yes, Greenie?" She asked innocently.

"Stop calling me Greenie! My name is Vert!" Vert demanded. Aurora shrugged.

"You keep telling yourself that, Greenie." She replied.

"Aurora, stop torturing your cousin. You'll have plenty of time to do that later."

"Yes Uncle Jack." The young girl said sweetly.

"Dad, I thought you were supposed to be on my side." The man took in the gleeful grin on his six year old nice's face, as well as the annoyed look that adorned his nine year old son's, and he began to laugh. Aurora joined her uncle, joyfully celebrating her victory. Vert scowled, which caused his mother and aunt to start chuckling as well.

"No fair." Vert grumbled.

"Oh, relax, Greenie!" Aurora said with a devilish grin on her face. "Life's never fair! Murphy's law sees to that!"

"My name is Vert!"

* * *

"Chase!" The teenager stormed into the kitchen and pinned her little brother with a ferocious glare. "Give me back my car keys."

"Car keys? What car keys?" Chase stopped eating his cereal momentarily and regarded his irritated sister with an innocent look. "I don't know anything about any car keys. Why, are they missing?"

"Yes, because you took them!"

"And that matters why?" Completely unconcerned, Chase went back to his bowl of Corn Flakes.

"Listen up." His sister hissed. "I need those keys so I can drive my car down to school. I have an important test today, and I don't want to be late."

"Fair enough." Chase said through a half-full mouth, causing his sister to cringe and make a note to lecture her brother on manners later. He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and tossed it to his irate older sister.

"Why do you always insist on playing pranks on me?" She demanded. Chase shrugged.

"Oh, I don't know. Um, let me see…" Chase stopped eating once more and started to ponder the question his sibling had asked. "Well, it's fun, it's one of the few things that can make you lose your cool, it makes you mad, it's fun, it's amusing, other than that I can't think of any good reason. Oh, and did I mention that it's fun?"

"You do know that all this is going to come back to haunt you one day." His sister said, mischief appearing in her eye for a few moments.

"Oh, I'm not too concerned about Karma." Chase said with a shrug. "After all, I deal with you every single day." Here he paused, and then smirked. "Besides, as we all know, Karma's a real-"

"Chase Markus Eiss! I thought I told you no swearing in the house! And no holding your sister up! She has an extremely important exam today!"

"But mom, I didn't even finish my sentence yet!" Chase protested weakly. Karma laughed.

"Better luck next time, little brother." She said before ruffling his hair – which she knew the sixteen year old hated – and heading out the door. Chase watched her go, an evil grin crawling onto his face.

"Oh, dear sister." He said. "You have no idea what you just got yourself into."

* * *

"You just need to sign these papers right here." The social worker said as he placed the forms in front of the middle aged man and woman. The woman smiled, while the man picked up a pen and signed his name with a flourish, the woman quickly following suit. The social worker smiled and shook both their hands before turning to pull some files.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. McClurg." He said as he handed over a thick file filled with medical records, birth certificates, and other such items of government importance. "Calla is officially your daughter."

"Thank you for working with us, Martin." Mr. McClurg said as he and his wife prepared to go collect their children.

"My pleasure." Martin replied as he showed the two out. Through the windows he could see Calla, Ray, Mitchell, and Lauren in the driveway. The first and third were messing around with the engine of Calla's vehicle, a rough looking car she had decided to call Palladium. Lauren and Mitchell were playing tag, the two younger kids making the property resound with the noise of their high pitched giggles. Of the four children, on Mitchell was the McClurgs biological son. Lauren was the orphaned daughter of one of the family's closest friends, and Ray and Calla were biological siblings. The McClurgs hadn't been planning on adopting a fourth child, but when they had discovered that Ray's older sister was in a nearby orphanage, they had changed their minds.

Martin watched as the parents went to give the others the news, before sighing and returning to his work. Though he would never admit it, he would certainly miss having Calla around.

* * *

The girl finished her last tumbling pass, coming to a stop. She stumbled a little on the landing, her once injured leg buckling under her weight. She sighed, before the sound of applause filled the air. Turning around, she was met with the sight of a tall, muscular sixteen year old redhead.

"How long have you been standing there, cousin?" She asked.

"Long enough, Skyla." He said. "How's your leg doing?"

"Good enough, although I won't be competing in any competitions again." Skyla replied ruefully. "Guess I need to find a new career. Why're you here? I know you didn't come out here just to visit, Pork Chop."

"Well, funny enough, I had an idea as what you could do." Pork Chop answered. "How would you like to learn how to race?"

* * *

"I thought I'd find you up here." The half Latina, half Asian girl turned to she her leader standing behind her. The girl sighed and went back to staring at the ocean below.

"Hi Nova." She muttered to the albino, not even bothering to use nicknames. Nova sighed and walked over to sit next to the rather unhappy teen.

"Shirako's leaving in a few minutes, Xio." She informed the Latina. "Aren't you coming to see him off?"

"No." Xio's answer was short, the girl's underlying anger briefly flaring to the surface. Nova rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, Xiomara." The red eyed girl also let her temper flare. "You know that as soon as he drives off, you're going to regret not saying goodbye."

"He's a filthy little traitor!" Xiomara snarled angrily. "He's not worth my time, nor is he worth yours! He said he was going to stay with the group, and the second that he got an offer to go be somewhere else, he decided he was going to break that promise!"

"You and I both know that he's doing what's best for all of us." Nova argued. "None of us have jobs, and the money from street racing is unreliable at best and downright nonexistent at worse. Even with you, me, Gage, Archer, Shirako, and the triplets racing, we still don't have enough money to keep this place running and put food on the table and afford clothes for the kids so that they aren't questioned at school and to maintain our cars. If Shirako leaves, that will mean that we only need to feed eleven people, instead of twelve. And he does have a car. He promised me that he'd come back and visit"

"Yeah right." Xio retorted. "He already broke one promise. This one will be even easier to break."

"Look, I'm not going to deal with this right now." Nova, now thoroughly annoyed, stood up abruptly. "I'm going to say goodbye to him. If you want to stay up here and sulk, fine. You and I both know that you'll regret it later."

With that, she walked down the ramp, back towards the ground level where her other friends awaited. Xio refused to move, continuing to stare out at the ocean.

"I don't care about him anyway." The girl muttered to herself, desperately trying to convince her mind that she didn't care at all that the one person she loved was leaving. Of course, Shirako didn't know that she loved him; Xio had been too hesitant to tell the teen that she'd had a crush on him ever since he'd joined their little band.

If Xio was being honest with herself, she had wanted to run right down those ramps and see the skinny Asian off. But she was much to proud to lower herself to that level, especially after she had made such a big deal about him leaving.

As she sat there, the sounds of a car engine suddenly flared to life, followed by a blast of extremely loud music. Xio's eyes widened, and she scrambled from her perch overlooking the sea and rushed to the opposite side of ramp. She was just in time to see Bassline drive out of the garage at twice the speed limit, tearing down the road. Xio's heart twinged, and she suddenly felt incredibly guilty and foolish. She quickly tried to banish those thoughts by reminding herself that the kid - she had refused to even say his name ever since she had learned he was leaving - was a dirty lying traitor who had cheated her and her friends out of several things; the first and foremost being their trust.

If one had thought that the girl had been in a foul mood before, they were sadly mistaken. Xio, now twice as angry as she had been a few moments ago, stormed down the ramp to the second level, where the non-traditional family's living quarters were set up. Each one of them had an area the size of two parking spaces that was considered their room; with the girls on the left side of the structure and the boys on the right. Xiomara's space was on one of the corners. The room was simply furnished - just a plastic box filled with her clothes, and a few blankets to serve as a bed. She didn't bother changing, and instead lied down on the hard bed.

Nova had been right. She did regret not saying goodbye.

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	4. The Sands of Time (Part 2)

**Chapter 4: The Sands of Time (part 2)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

"Yo, Gale, what's up?"

"Aw, dude, nothing much." The Asian replied, supremely happy that her brother had actually remembered to call her. "Still changing the world, one piece of techno music at a time. How about you?"

"Life's pretty good." Shirako replied, lying through his teeth. "I got asked to join a racing team out here, so I'm relocating to Palm Springs. It's about an hour's drive from San Francisco. How's school going?"

"Oh, you always want to ask me about school." Gale protested. "Why don't you ever ask me "about anything else."

"Look Gale, I'm just worried about you." Shirako's response was a tad bit defensive, but one could hardly blame him. "Dad's pretty much given up on me, kicked me out a few weeks ago after I told him I didn't want to go to college. He's not talking to me anymore, and I know if you don't get good grades, then he's going to do the same thing to you." The older sibling didn't bother to mention that his father had actually kicked him out his junior year of highschool, and that he had been living in a parking garage for the past few years.

"Yeah, he got pretty mad at me last week when he found out I got a B in math." Gale muttered. "Not that it made any difference that I was one point away from getting an A." She sighed. "I know he wants me to do well, but I wish he wouldn't put this much stress on me. His tendency to be really critical was one of the things that caused the divorce."

"I know, sis." Shirako sympathized, before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry for the short call, but I've still got an hour and a half left to go, and I want to avoid rush hour. I'll call you soon sis."

"Yeah, bye." The storm-eyed girl sighed and hung up, before glancing at the clock. It was twelve o'clock, which meant that it would be around nine in California. At least her brother wouldn't get stuck in traffic. The girl sighed again before picking up her pencil. Her research paper for AP Biology was due tomorrow, and her father had ordered her to rewrite the whole thing so it lived up to his strict standards; not caring that the girl was exhausted and running herself into the ground. At least tomorrow was Friday. She'd be able to go to bed early and sleep in the next day.

* * *

Dusty sand coated the beach that stretched perhaps only a few feet from the back of the small house. One might have been in awe of the pristine surface, just as they might have been awed by the volcanic glass that was sprinkled here and there further along the sandy stretch, or the clear aquamarine waters that lapped at the shore. For the two Islanders, however, this was no foreign delight, but home. This was certainly a valid reason why they were much more focused on the vehicle that had mysteriously appeared in the driveway that morning.

"This is a pretty high tech car." The younger, a boy of about fifteen, said as he shut the hood of the '55 Chevy Nomad. "There are things in here that I've never even heard of before." He frowned and looked over at his sister. "Where exactly did you get this, again?"

"I told you, it was in the driveway when I woke up." She replied with a helpless shrug. "No one was around, it was just parked here with this racing suit, a set of car keys, and a ticket for passage to the mainland; as well as the video message inviting me to this race." It was her turn to frown, though hers was more suspicious in nature. "Did you put someone up to this, Shane?"

"What? No way!" Shane protested. "I've never seen this before in my life. Besides, if I were going to obtain a high powered car such as this, I'd keep it for myself, Lani!"

"Okay, I was just asking." Lani asked defensively. This seemed to cool Shane's temper a bit, as his rage subsided.

"So, when are you leaving, sis?" He asked, before frowning. "You are going, right?"

"I don't know, Shane." The Hawaiian replied with a conflicted look. "What about my nursing degree?"

"Lani, you know as well as I do that you truly wanted to be a mechanic up until a few years ago, and that you probably still do." Her brother said matter of factly. "Are you getting the degree because you want to? Or are you getting it because that's what mom would have wanted you to do?"

Lani sighed, her face betraying the emotions she dared not speak aloud. Shane crossed his arms and looked at her.

"I'm waiting for an answer, sis."

"You're right." She finally admitted with a sigh. "I'm really only getting the degree because that was what Mom wanted me to do. I like racing and fixing cars a lot more than going through medical school." She sighed again, before a determined look flashed across her face. "I'm going."

"Great." Shane replied, a relieved smile decorating his face. "So, what do you need me to help you with in terms of getting ready?"

* * *

"Are you leaving to go out west soon, Tork?" The buff man asked his friend. The two were sitting in a small diner on the north side of town, the remnants of a small breakfast in front of them. The question was posed to an equally muscular African American of about nineteen years of age.

"Yeah." He admitted, a bit sheepishly. After all, he was talking to his current leader about leaving. "I heard there are some pretty good racers out in California. I kind of want to try my luck against them. Besides, this isn't exactly a hotbed of racing activity. My parents are getting a bit suspicious of my extended absences."

"I hear you, dude." The blonde said after a moment. "We're going to miss having you on the team, though. You're pretty good, considering you've only been doing this for a year or two."

"You'll have Verity in a few years." Tork replied. "She'll be good at this, Lance."

"Yeah, but she's only thirteen." Lance protested. "It'll be years before she'll start racing." Tork laughed.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that." he said, thinking of his younger sister. He had found her last night in her room, asleep at her desk. Now this in and of itself was not odd, but to his immense shock there had been the beginnings of a set of car plans spread out in front of her. She had obviously found the well hidden blueprints for Hollowback, as the car was structurally similar to his own vehicle, but there was a certain flare to the modifications that would suit his sister well. "I think she'll be driving before we know it."

"Yeah, well if she turns out to be half the racer you are, I won't have any complaints." Lance said as he stood up. "You coming to the race tonight or not?"

"I'm not leaving for another two weeks." Tork replied as he also stood up, leaving enough cash on the table to cover the bill and give the waitress a substantial tip. "Of course I'm coming."

* * *

"Talia?" The girl sighed as she set down her wrench and rolled out from underneath the skeleton of the car she was building. She had finally found the set of plans that Maria and Tone had used to create their cars. Talia could still recall seeing the sleek vehicles - Synkro and Synkron they were called - come together in the small driveway before their little house. She had assumed that Maria and Tone had taken the plans with them when they moved away, both to get into street races, but Maru had been the one to find them in a small box in the attic.

A lot had happened since that day ten years ago. Their mother had become the victim of a workplace accident, had fallen into one of the machines or something like that not long after the older three had left. She hadn't died, thankfully, though the muscle damage was more extensive than anyone had thought. She had returned to working for a time, but eventually had to leave due to the injuries. She was now on disability. Thankfully the house's mortgage was paid in full, otherwise the family would have been evicted at this point. It was hard to get by with just disability payments, even when that income was supplemented by whatever the rest of the family sent them.

It had been seven years since they had all been under one roof. Tone and Maria had sent money and letters when able, though they never did come back to visit. Life was hard for them as well. The fact that they could spare money every month was incredible. Maria still sent money, but Tone no longer did. Nolo had taken on that job about three years ago, right around the time a letter had arrived in the mail saying that Tone had died in a crash. The letter was short, though Talia had managed to deduce that Nolo wasn't telling their mother the whole truth. Tone had died in a street race, not in an accident on the thruway like their mother thought. It was a good thing she didn't know, otherwise she would have been even more upset over her son's death than she already was.

Unfortunately for her mother, Talia was bound and determined to be a street racer just like her older siblings. Her mother blamed that on the set of car plans she had found, but in truth Talia would have gotten car plans one way or another,even if she had to draw them up herself. Perhaps what was equally unfortunate was that not even a few miles from the house was a canyon known locally as Headstone Alley. It was a favorite of street racers, since it was out in the wilderness where speed limits didn't apply. The nickname, however, came from the fact that several people died there each year during those races. But what was perhaps the most unfortunate of all was the fact that Maru, by now a ten year old, was bound and determined to follow in her sister's footsteps.

It should have come as no surprise to their mother, however, that her children all wanted to pursue racing. She herself had served as a mechanic on an illegal team - never racing, but helping contribute to the sport, nonetheless. Their maternal uncle was the leader of the team, and he had recruited a hotshot rookie named Roberto. One thing led to another, and several years after Roberto's first race, he married Esperanza, who at that time had dropped out of the team in favor of less deadly pursuits. Their father raced for a time, until he too quit due to the birth of his first two children. Racing was in the Pasero family's blood. Their father had regaled them with stories of their grandfather's exploits on the track, as well as their uncles and aunts. And on the Cortez side of the family, well, racing was equally important. Several member raced, and almost all of the cousins had a car; even Spinner and Sherman, though they were more interested in being professional video gamers rather than racers.

"Talia?" The Latina was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of her sister's voice. The girl sighed and rolled out from underneath the skeleton of the car that she was building. Her sister was sitting on the steps that led into the house, a melancholy look on her face.

"Yes, Maru?" The thirteen year old asked.

"Do you think that I'll even get to meet Nolo and Maria?"

Talia sighed and stood up, walking over and sitting down next to her ten year old sister. The young girl looked extremely distressed, her dark hazel eyes shiny with barely contained tears.

"Don't worry." Talia said reassuringly. "Once I get my driver's license, we'll take a trip out to LA and then you'll get to see Nolo and Maria again."

"But I don't remember them!" Maru said bitterly. "You can remember them. All I have is pictures and whatever stories you or mom tell about them."

"I really don't remember that much either." Talia reminded her gently. "We were really young when Dad died. I wouldn't worry too much about it. We'll see Maria and Nolo again, I promise."

"But what if they don't recognize me?" Maru whispered. Talia sighed. She was doing that a lot lately, she noted, but pushed that thought out of her mind. This always came up in these frequent conversations. Maru had only been three the last time that the entire family had been under one roof. She had little memory of any of her brothers, or Maria. The few things she did remember - a gentle smile, a rowdy game of tag, a family party – were few and far between. The one thing she was especially afraid of was that her siblings wouldn't recognize, or even remember her.

"Of course they'll recognize you." Talia reassured her. "You look just like Maria does. They'd have to be blind to not see the family resemblance."

"Okay…" Maru muttered before sighing and standing up. "I'm going to go check up on mom."

With that she walked out of the garage. Talia sighed before picking up her wrench and sliding back under the car. Maru was pretty worried about not being recognized by her siblings, despite Talia's reassurances. It was frustrating, but she couldn't blame her younger sister. If their roles were reversed, she'd probably be just as worried as Maru was now.

* * *

Jette sighed as she looked at a picture of her and her twin. Had it really been almost three years since she had last seen Terra alive? Well, she supposed that Terra could still be alive. Judging from how she had acted, looked, and sounded, however, the girl was nothing more than a reanimated corpse at this point.

Terra had just turned up missing one day, completely vanished from the apartment that the pair of girls shared. Her mother had been distraught, though Mr. James Kitano, her employer, had allowed her several weeks to mourn before the old woman returned to her job as a maid in his mansion. Alicia Yang had been very appreciative that the man hadn't fired her right out of the blue for asking for a few weeks off.

Jette was still mourning for her sister, though in truth, she had seen Terra since the girl had vanished. Some crazy psycho android had kidnapped her sister and turned her into a cyborg, although whether or not the process had killed Terra remained to be seen.

The girl sighed once more before walking out of the apartment. She had errands to run, and if she didn't get more food into the house, she was going to end up dying of starvation. She just wished she could see her sister again, one more time.

* * *

The girl was running, running as fast as she could. Someone was chasing her, but not the drones. They were all gone, destroyed, deactivated. She was the last one, the last of the drones in the headquarters. Everyone else, gone.

Gelorum…missing in the ultimate race.

Zone…killed after two of the humans had confronted him on the roof.

LD-01…lost in the explosion of the human's base.

Now her…soon to end as well.

She wasn't going to go down without a fight, however. No, she wouldn't let them catch her, and if they did, well…she wouldn't make it easy for them.

In reality, she did. She tripped and fell. How ironic. She was one of the best Drone commanders, yet she was caught because she tripped. It certainly seemed that fate was not on her side.

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	5. Location: Unknown

**Chapter 5: Location Unknown**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

The tall girl angrily pitched a rock over the edge of the cliff, the small stone tumbling through the air until it pierced the choppy waves below. She was enraged beyond belief, her anger directed at both the very object that was permanently clasped around her ankle, and its creators.

The last thing she recalled after that strange black light had taken her away was her dying body hitting hard orange ground with a dull thump. Her fading eyesight was just able to make out her wig lying on the ground in front of her, the bare skin of her head chilled by a crisp breeze. It was only through a series of white lies and this incredibly life like hairpiece that Kurt hadn't found out about her cancer. She had concealed her newfound baldness - perhaps the most distressing side effect from the chemo to the girl was the fact that it had robbed her of the thick mane she had worked so hard to grow out to her shoulders - under that wig, and had passed off the bruises that the leukemia had caused as ones she had gotten from messing around with some of the older people in town. She hadn't wanted her little brother, who practically idolized her, to know that she was dying, and that she didn't have a lot of time left.

The cancer she had was terminal, a mutated strain of leukemia that didn't respond to any of the normal treatments. Her parents had eventually made the agonizing decision to stop treatment, in the hopes of improving the quality of their cherished daughter's life than the quantity. Jay had gradually grown worse over the past few weeks, and by her estimates she was going to die soon. She could distinctly remember thinking that it was better this way, that it would be much kinder for her to simply disappear than to let Kurt watch her die.

Now, twenty years from that day, she was still alive. She had woken up in what appeared to be a futuristic room, lying on a cot. Someone had tucked her in underneath the covers, and the same person had sealed her in a tube that had rapidly filled with a fine white mist that had helped her wake up. According to the computer nearby she had been in stasis, though for how long she was uncertain.

Then the Acceleron had appeared. Kurt would have freaked if he had realized that his original guess was right, that aliens had created the strange stone anklet that was now wrapped around her limb. The blue creature - she assumed it was a he, the being sounded masculine when it mentally spoke to her - had been quite patient, answering her plethora of questions.

Apparently the stone was the innermost ring of an Accelian artifact called the Wheel of Power, which Jay had snidely pointed out was a somewhat unimaginative name. The Wheel was essentially the Accelian equivalent to a nuclear generator, though it ran on no radioactive substance. The power that flowed through it could be harnessed by individuals with enough training, though the Acceleron had mentioned that while she had been asleep, the Wheel had downloaded, for lack of a better term, vast stores of knowledge into her head; the first and foremost was the ability to control the Wheel. The other largest increase in her knowledge was that of the spoken word. The girl was now fluent in five earth languages, and Accelian aside; as well as being proficient in half a dozen more. She had also aged a bit while in stasis, at about half the rate she normally would have. In a sense, she now was a living paradox - a twenty six year old who had only aged for sixteen of those years.

With the reveal that she was in an alien dimension - Highway 35, the Acceleron had called it - and that she was the new guardian of the Zero Ring; not to mention the fact that she had been forcibly separated from her family, was now much younger than she was supposed to be, and had essentially had her head messed with against her will...well, she was pretty ticked off. To be honest, it was a miracle that she hadn't lost it halfway through that conversation. Though if she were being honest with herself, Jay might have been tempted to test out this new found power that the Zero Ring had gifted her.

The only good thing that had come out of this whole experience was the fact that the leukemia that had plagued her was gone, eradicated from her body by the Wheel, and that she would never have to deal with it again. She had been thrilled to see that her hair had grown while she was in stasis, a long dark mane of waves that fell to her ankles. Ankle length hair was a nuisance, however, and almost all of it from her hips down was dead. Jay had soon solved that problem, having come across a set of throwing knives. The haircut would not win any awards, save for perhaps the choppiest one ever given, but it suited the rough and tumble lady, and she honestly couldn't do a whole lot better. Besides, she was in an isolated place. Nobody was going to complain about her hair.

The next problem she had solved was finding some clothes. When she had awoken she was in one of those dreadful hospital gowns, the clothes that she had been wearing the day she vanished gone. It had taken much searching before the Acceleron had appeared to give her a set of clothing, as well as directing her to where supplies a human needed to survive could be located. She had muttered something about the alien having dreadful fashion sense before storming off in a huff, though in truth she quite liked the outfit she wore now. It was all black; and consisted of a pair of jeans, a t shirt, a leather jacket, black socks, and black combat boots. Jay had, however, been unsure of how to get dressed. It was not because she didn't know how too, it was that there were some slight barriers that made pulling on a set of clothing rather difficult. After all, there was the not-so-small problem of a rock and metal anklet stuck to her ankle, and the fact that it refused to move. She spent a good thirty minutes trying to pry it off with a screwdriver, or whatever the Accelian equivalent was, but only got a bloody mess for her troubles. Thoroughly frustrated, she tossed the tool aside and pulled her clothes on over the strange device...only for it to reappear over her clothes. This was followed by a good round of cursing - if such a thing existed, that is - before she stomped away towards her ride.

Her ride was the other good thing that had happened. The Acceleron had procured a legal United States drivers license for her - how he did so was beyond her, but Jay wasn't in the mood to ask him how he had done it. The alien had gifted her this, along with an Accelian hover board. It was a sleek black and silver craft, and it brought a bit of a smile to the lonely girl's face, as she could recall many summer evenings in the skate park, pulling trick after trick on her trusty skateboard. She was even further delighted to discover that the craft - which she had promptly named Twilight Strike - handled exactly like her old board, as if it was designed with her in mind. She speedily became proficient in using the craft, discovering that the Zero Ring could temporarily charge up gravity to simulate a black hole's effects. The resulting energy could be used to drift around turns - which involved passing through the mini black hole's event horizon to temporarily slow down time, and then blasting forward for about three meters. The other thing the energy could be used for was something she had termed a gravity dive. With this maneuver, she could go sailing through the air at speeds of almost 400 miles an hour for long distances.

More experimenting with this new ride of hers revealed that it could change forms into a sleek and compact bike. She loved the look of the vehicle, instinctively knowing that it was designed for racing, something that the Accelerons loved. She had already taken it out for a spin, the advanced vehicle living up to her expectations.

"So, you're the mysterious thief, huh?"

Jay looked up, thoroughly startled. She had been so lost in thought that she had left the lonely cliff behind, and had wandered into a decrepit - but at the same time, magnificent - city. It was dimly lit, a grim reminder of the last place she had spent time at on earth. As she glanced around, not at all liking the dark, a green glow caught her eye. There, standing in the alley way, a humanoid figure. She could see the menacing green eyes, a sickly glow emanating from them, and jagged lines on the left side of this strange creature's body that shared that trademark color.

"I'm many things, but to my knowledge, I'm not a thief." Jay replied calmly, her mind racing. The being tipped its head to the side, appearing to study her.

"You're not an Acceleron…"

"You got that right." At this point, Jay was curious, to say the least. She didn't dare go into the alleyway, for she had no idea of what she was facing.

"Yet you have the same aura of power an Acceleron emits." The next statement was very matter of fact, a deadly undertone to this strange person's voice.

"Look." Jay finally allowed her temper to flare. "I got pulled in here against my will by the Accelian artifact that's currently residing on my ankle. It seems to have taken a liking to me, cause I can't get the thing to come off. I myself am as human as any other."

Dead silence filled the air, until a harsh laughter rushed in to banish the silence. The being moved slightly, the glowing eyes shifting to the right, and the sound of footsteps something akin to gunshots in the still air. Jay tensed, expecting an attack, until she realized that her new friend had merely leaned up against one of the walls that lined her little alley.

"So tell me, thief." It said in a conversational tone. "How'd you figure out where I kept my supplies?"

"Supplies?" Jay was confused, and half contemplating running, but she wasn't exactly sure how to get out of this place.

"Those clothes you're wearing were a spare set I owned, and I'm guessing you have the other three pairs that mysteriously vanished." The unknown assailant said matter of factly. "I'm also missing some of my food, which I assume you helped yourself to."

"I didn't take anything." Jay retorted. "I was in a coma for twenty years. When I woke up, an Acceleron was there. He told me a few things, answered some of my questions, gave me some supplies, and vanished. I wasn't aware that he had stolen them from you."

Silence, again, and then a sigh.

"You aren't lying." The being mused, almost to herself. She sighed again, then stepped out of the shadows.

It was a girl, perhaps around sixteen years of age, though the glowing green wiring that was laced up and down her body would cause one to question if she was man or machine. Her dirty black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her skin was the same dusty tan as coarse sand; though the lighting could have thrown off her perception of the girl.

"Who are you?" Jay asked, thoroughly mystified by the appearance of another human.

"Terra." The girl replied cooly. "Who are you?"

"Jay Wylde." The recently awakened girl replied. "So tell me, Terra. You know how I arrived in this place. How did someone like you get lost in here?"

Terra opened her mouth to respond, when a beeping noise filled the air. The girl looked down at the wiring on her forearm, which was glowing and pulsing with a strange light, the beeping noise in perfect sync with the radiance. Terra frowned, her skin ashen.

"I have to go." She murmured before turning and vanishing into the shadows. "Until next time, Jay."

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	6. Requiem of the Missing

**Chapter 6: Requiem of the Missing**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

Lani mutely sat in the ruins of the Acceledrome, Nitrium parked nearby. The smoking fires still smoldered and sputtered in the soft drizzle that had begun to soak her skin, though she ignored the chills that had begun to set in. In the ruins she could see scraps of the hydraulic lifts, the bikes that Monkey and Shirako had built, and even some medical equipment from the infirmary. Everything had been obliterated, yet all she could do was sit and wonder how this had all happened.

How? How did it come to this. How was she the last one of Tezla's little group?

Oh, sure, none of them had died in the explosion, they had all made it out alive. Vert had to have gotten out - she refused to think that he was dead - and they had planned on reconvening in the smouldering Acceledrome to head on out to look for him.

She had driven Tezla back to the building, leaving him in the remains of the garage while she poked around in what remained of the basement to see if anything was salvageable. The sounds of a brief scuffle had attracted her attention, and she had run back upstairs just in time to see a pair of Silencerz shoot Tezla. The old man had toppled backwards, blood leaking out of his chest, before the mysterious agents had pulled him into their car and left.

Their target was obviously Tezla, why else would they have ignored Nitrium? The car, though hidden from view with its cloaking device, was easy to spot by anyone with the proper scans. Lani would have been foolish to believe that the Silencerz didn't want their vehicle back.

She had stuck around to wait for the others, establishing a radio connection from the ruins of the control room. Nolo had informed her that they had yet to find Vert - or, as Monkey quickly pointed out, Sparky - and that they were en route to the Acceledrome. Lani had sorrowfully informed him about Tezla's death, and she had heard him relay that information to the others. Before the Latino could ask what had happened, shouts had filled the air, and sounds of a fight had broken out. The radio must have gotten smashed in the confusion, as her connection to the Sweeper suddenly vanished in a burst of static.

Lani had been sitting in the former mesa ever since, a soul crushing sadness rendering her immobile. Her friends were gone, her employer dead, and it certainly felt as if she were the last person on earth.

As she sat there, something swooped down from the sky and hovered just in front of her. Time seemed to slow to an icy stand-still as Lani cully stared at the Recon Drone, fear in her eyes. It beeped a few times, no doubt informing the Drones that there still was a survivor.

Scarcely had that thought crossed her mind when the sounds of an engine filled the air, and a bike pulled into what was left of the Acceledrome. It was black and green, built low to the ground, its driver bent over the handlebars. The Recon Drone beeped happily and zipped over to the pilot's side as they dismounted, bouncing up and down in the air.

"We were too late, huh?" The driver asked as she pulled off her helmet, Lani paling as she saw who had arrived. Long black locks were pulled back into a ponytail, away from a tanned face. Warm brown eyes surveyed the damaged structure, and a scowl made clear its owner's thoughts. The girl driving the bike had to have been no older than sixteen, though she was no ordinary human. Drone wiring, though cold and deactivated, was laced along the left side of her face, on her left hand, and there probably was more under her clothing.

"Taro?" Lani whispered, a bit surprised. It was totally illogical - Taro was much older, and Taro wasn't a girl - but this strange teen was the spitting image of the quiet Metal Maniac. The girl's eyes flitted over to rest on Lani, though if she was surprised, she didn't show it.

"How do you know my half-brother?" She asked. Lani could only sit there mutely in shock. Brother? That would imply that Taro had a sister. But her ex had never mentioned any living family, save for his father.

Dimly she could hear the recon Drone beeping and chirping, sounding like R2-D2 from the Star Wars movies. Taro's sister sighed.

"Nano, why don't you go contact Jay?" She said as she walked over to sit beside Lani. Nano, as the recon Drone was apparently called, chirped again before flying off. Its owner sighed.

"The name's Terra." She said. "Ex-drone commander, former human, and only survivor of Gelorum's wrath. Mind telling me what happened here? This place looks like a war zone."

"I'm Lani." The Hawaiian replied. "I'm Dr. Tezla's assistant, and I've been helping him here in the Acceledrome for quite some time." Quickly she filled the girl in on what had gone down with the Drones, and how Tezla had made the difficult decision to blow up the Acceledrome rather than allow the Drones to escape. She spoke of how the Silencerz showed up and murdered Tezla right in front of her, before leaving both her and their former car in the ruins. She recalled how she had informed the Teku and the Metal Maniacs of Tezla's death, only for her to unexpectedly lose the transmission during a struggle that had developed at the Sweeper.

Scarcely had Lani finished her tale when Nano flew back up, blinking and chirping in excitement. Behind it was a large black motorcycle, its rider bent low over the vehicle. With a shower of sand it pulled to a stop beside Terra's own bike, the rider dismounting and removing her helmet.

"She's the only one?" The girl asked, shaking some of her hip-length black hair out of her emerald eyes. Terra nodded once.

"We were too late." She muttered, quickly informing the newcomer in on what had happened. The girl - who, when pressed for a name only replied with Jay - sighed.

"So what do we do?" Jay wondered, examining the ruins intently. Terra shrugged.

"What were you thinking?" She replied, leaving Lani extremely confused. Jay sighed and sat down on a heap of scrap metal.

"Give me two, three weeks and I should be able to raise this building." She said after a while. "I'd grab that Sweeper she mentioned - we'll need some kind of shelter. After that we formulate a plan, recruit some drivers, start going through the Realms again and search for any more survivors."

"Sounds good to me." Terra replied before standing up. "Let's go, Lani. That Sweeper's not going to move itself, you know."

"Go? Go where?" Lani asked, utterly confused about the situation. "What are the two of you talking about? Survivors? What survivors? I thought the Realms were all closed."

"Look." Jay said, finally addressing her. "The two of us have reason to believe that the Silencerz took your friends captive. We're going to retrieve them; it's as simple as that. As for the Realms, only half of them were ever used. There are still about a dozen left. Now are you going to go get that Sweeper, or would you prefer we spend the night without any shelter?"

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	7. Captured

**Chapter 7: Captured**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

Tork groaned and opened his eyes. He had exactly no idea where he was, which admittedly wasn't saying much. The last thing he remembered before everything had gone black was a group of Silencerz swarming the Sweeper. The Teku and the Metal Maniacs had tried to fight them, but they had had guns loaded with tranquilizer darts. Shirako, Monkey, and Karma had gone down almost immediately, Pork Chop and the Wylde brothers not too far behind. Taro had managed to get his hands on a long pipe that must have been ripped off of the wall at some point. Most people would have laughed, but in Taro's skilled hands it was a deadly weapon, and he had managed to take down three or four agents before six tranquilizer darts had embedded themselves in his shoulder, and he was soon out for the count.

Come to think of it, Tork had to remember to ask Taro where on earth he had learned how to use a pipe as a sword. It was an unusual skill, to say the least.

After Taro fell, it was just him and Nolo. They hadn't lasted long. Two darts in Nolo's leg was enough to knock the skinny Latino out, while Tork had taken three darts to the chest. After that, everything had gone black.

With a sigh he sat up slowly, shaking his head a few times to clear it. The African American was in a small, simply furnished cell. There was a pair of bunk beds, a small table with four chairs around it, and a door that appeared to lead to a bathroom. Curiously enough there was a flat screen television hanging from the wall, though it was currently shut off at the moment.

He wasn't alone in the cell. Nolo was in the lower bunk on the other bed, while Taro was sitting at the table, along with…

"Taro? Tone?" Tork said in a dazed tone of voice, alerting the other two to his presence. Taro dipped his head in acknowledgement, while a quick half-smirk flashed across the elder Pasero's face.

"Oh good, he still recognizes us." The Latino said with a laugh.

For a dead guy, Tone sure seemed to be in remarkably good spirits. He hadn't changed much, save for the fact that a web of scars now were tattooed onto his arms, a few nasty jagged ones marring his face. Tork was almost positive that there were a lot more underneath Tone's shirt, as well. Other than that, though, his friend hadn't changed much since he had last seen him.

"You done gawking?" Tone asked, breaking the leader of the Metal Maniacs out of his thoughts.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Tork retorted as he sat at the table. Tone laughed again, as if he were expecting that question to be asked sooner or later, and that he was pleasantly surprised that it had taken this long to materialize.

"You know, you don't need to sound so disappointed." He joked. "As for me supposedly being dead, once I figure out exactly how I managed to survive that crash I'll be sure to let you know." The Latino sighed before shaking his head.

"So, I suppose you guys are in here because you know something about those Realms?" He asked in a conversational tone.

Taro had the grace to actually look shocked, while Tork was almost certain that an equivalent expression decorated his own face.

"You know about them?" Taro asked carefully, sensing that his leader was still trying to process Tone's statement. Tone, for his part, laughed bitterly.

"That tv doesn't exactly show Sunday night football, if you catch my drift." He replied.

"How?" Tork finally asked. Tone shrugged.

"You two remember Jose?" He asked, referring to a fellow racer who was employed by a pizza store as a delivery driver. Tork and Taro both nodded - they knew the guy, had raced him a few times. He wasn't particularly bad, but the kid wasn't particularly good at racing, either. He was average at it.

"One day he knocked on my door, invited himself into the house, and started babbling on about being a government agent and there being these crazy alternate dimensions called Racing Realms that had been created by some advanced alien race, and how he had been keeping that secret for so long, and how he just couldn't take it anymore, and that he had to tell someone."

"And you believed him?" Taro wondered as the Latino finished his tale. Tork blinked a few times, not certain he was actually awake. It was a downright miracle - Taro was actually in a chatty mood for once in his life. The African American wasn't sure if he was still dreaming at this point. Tone grinned, ignoring the puzzled looks Tork was casting at his teammate.

"No, I thought he had gotten into some hallucinogen and was coming off a bad trip." He replied. "A few days later, I raced you, Tork, and, well, I think the three of us know how that turned out. The last thing I remember was the crash, after that, everything went black. When I woke up, I was in here. Wherever here is. Which reminds me, how long has it been since that race?"

"Oh, about three years." Tork replied automatically, finally coming to terms with the fact that Tone wasn't dead. Tone paled, a horrified look on his face.

"Are you sure?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, why?" The leader of the Metal Maniacs was a bit confused. Sure, no one wanted to miss out on three years of their lives, but it could have been a lot worse. Tone muttered something in Spanish and buried his head in his hands.

"Shoot. Maria's going to kill me." He groaned.

"Who's Maria? I thought you were dating Karma." Tork said. "She a crazy ex of yours?"

"Worse." Tone replied with a sigh. "She's my older sister."

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	8. Where Are We?

**Chapter 8: Where Are We?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

"Well this stinks." Wylde muttered as he surveyed the cell. The last thing he remembered was the Silencerz attacking them without warning. Things had gotten a bit hectic, and then the next thing he knew he was waking up in a cell.

"Yo, this is so not cool." Shirako agreed as he sat at the table, his headphones for once not blasting music. Instead, they hung around his neck. At least the Silencerz had taken pity on the boy and let him keep his tunes. If he was deprived of his music, well...let's just say that bad things would have happened if they had dared to take the headphones from the boy.

"Hey, it could have been worse." Kurt pointed out. "They could have put you in a cell with Pork Chop."

Shirako winced, knowing full well that if he and the burly southerner were stuck in the same place for too long, only one of them would make it out alive. From the top bunk, someone sighed.

"If you three are done with your little panic session, can you turn it down a notch?" A man said. "I'm trying to sleep."

The voice was unfamiliar to Shirako, but it was one that Kurt and Markie knew well.

"Dresden? Is that you?" Kurt asked. This seemed to get their cellmates' attention, and with a sigh he sat up, revealing a tall blonde man with tired eyes.

"Hey Kurt, Markie." He said through a yawn, before reluctantly climbing out of bed. "I'd say I'm surprised to see you here, but I'm honestly not. So, Tezla roped the two of you into another one of his crazy schemes again? How much money did he promise this time, ten million?"

"Hardly, he sent Gig to interrupt one of our races and beg for our help." Wylde snorted in disgust. "How'd he get you?"

"Life on the circuit was too tame for my liking after that crazy race of his." Dresden replied before looking over at Shirako. The boy had quickly lost all interest in the proceedings and was happily absorbed in his music. "So, who's your friend?"

* * *

"What in tarnation happened to us?" Pork Chop bellowed as Monkey tried to get him to calm down.

"I don't know." The jumpy ginger yelped, a look that said help written all over it adorning his face. "All I remember is the Silencerz attacking, and then waking up here!"

"Chill, dude." One of their cellmates, a teen by the name of Alec, said. The fourth occupant of the room, a Puerto Rican called Banjee, nodded in agreement.

"Alec's right, amigo." He added. "Besides, all that yelling isn't good for your blood pressure."

Pork Chop would have turned purple with rage had the tv not flickered to life right then and there. Settling down, he blinked a few times.

"Now what?" He grumbled.

* * *

"What's going on?" Karma wondered as she observed the television. She was baffled as to what was going on. She assumed that the Silencerz had captured her, and most likely her friends as well, as the last thing she remembered was the Silencerz swarming the Sweeper.

It still seemed strange to view the Metal Maniacs as friends, rather than rivals. Don't get her wrong, it was nice to not constantly have the Teku and the Metal Maniacs at each other's throats. But it still felt weird. Karma was pretty sure she had seen Nolo and Tork fighting the Drones side by side in the Acceledrome. If giant metal robots hadn't been trying to kill her, she would have done a double take.

"I don't know." Her cellmate, a fiery Latina named Esmeralda replied. How did Karma know her new friend was fiery? It was quite simple, really. Esmeralda had woken up after Karma, and the first thing out of her mouth was a torrent of Spanish curses that lasted a good five minutes.

Esmeralda was a lithe girl, tall and muscular. She seemed nice enough, though the girl was a bit chatty. Karma had known her for all of ten minutes, and already the sole female Teku knew about the Latina's family, her hometown, her car, and her upcoming marriage.

The engagement ring had actually been one of the first things Karma had noticed. It was a pretty thing - a silver band set with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, all dyed with rich, intense hues. The craftsmanship was incredible. Karma was no expert on jewelry, but even her untrained eyes could tell that whoever had created the ring was highly skilled.

Esmeralda had been happy to talk about her fiance, a Puerto Rican man named Banjee. The two of them had met while at a race that Tezla had held. Karma filed that little tidbit of information away for later, making a mental note to ask about it later. After it had ended, one thing led to another, and soon the pair had decided to get married. Sadly, their plans had been derailed. Banjee had gotten a job working for Tezla, and then five months later Lani had called to tell her he was gone. Not dead, not missing; just...gone. Ironically enough, she had been captured exactly two years to the day that Lani had called.

Karma put those thoughts out of her head, though. She was quite interested in the action that was currently playing on the screen.

* * *

"That's impossible!" Wylde snapped as he looked in shock at the image on the screen. "We blew the Acceledrome sky high! Just how long were we out?"

"My guess is about three days." Dan replied with a sigh. "Most likely two days for travel time from that desert that Tezla seems to be so fond of, plus the 24 hours or so that you spent here in the cell before you all woke up. I don't know, though, I could be wrong. There is a distinct possibility that you all could have been out for much longer."

"Aw, dudes, turn it down a notch." Shirako piped up, his eyes fixed on the tv. "I can't hear what they're saying."

Dan looked at the teen - or more accurately, the headphones that were blasting music - and then shifted his gaze to Kurt.

"How can he hear anything with those things on?" He wondered, earning a shrug from his best friend.

"How should I know?" The elder Wylde brother replied. "He's been on the team for years, and none of us can make any sense of it either."

Shirako glared at the pair, causing them to tense and shut their yaps. Oh well, they might as well humor the boy. Besides, the action on the screen - which had shifted from the rebuilt Acceledrome to the inside of a small garage - was pretty interesting. A young Latina was up to her elbows in the engine of a car, which to the cellmates immense shock was a carbon copy of Synkro. It wasn't exactly the same, though - the orange paint had been replaced with an emerald green, while the blue had been darkened, and the dragon was outlined in gold. The girl herself wore an outfit identical to Nolo's, though in the colors of her car rather than his.

She appeared to be doing repair work, a focused look on her face, when the phone rang. With a sigh she looked over at the cell before scowling.

"Maru, get the phone!"

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	9. Call to Action (part 1)

**Chapter 9: Call to Action (part 1)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

"Why should I?" A girl's voice faintly replied. "It's your phone, Talia, you get it."

"I'm up to my elbows in engine grease." Talia replied. "I can't exactly answer anything at this point"

Maru sighed, but soon the sound of footsteps filled the air, and moments later a thirteen year old had joined her sister out in the garage. She had a scowl on her tanned face, and took a moment to brush the inky black hair from her deep brown eyes as she surveyed the scene before her. Maru wore a black jeans and combat boots, a crimson t-shirt, and a black leather jacket with a crimson lining.

"Well don't just stand there!" Her sister said. "Answer it before it goes to voicemail." Maru, for her part, rolled her eyes. She did, however, oblige Talia and answer it, a bored decorating her face.

"If this is a telemarketer, a politician, or anyone with a foreign accent from Microsoft, you have exactly two seconds to hang up; or you can proceed at your own risk. You have been warned." She snarled, before listening, an unimpressed look settling on her features. Her eyes flickered to Talia for a moment, before the girl pulled the phone from her ear and held it out to the girl.

"It's for you." She said.

"For the love of racing, Maru! Put it on speaker." Talia snapped. Maru shrugged but did as she requested.

"Hello?" A girl's voice said, somewhat tinny and distorted. "I'm Lani Tam. Is Talia Pasero there?"

"Speaking." Talia replied gruffly. "What do you want?"

"I worked with your brother Nolo." The girl replied, briefly outlining what had happened in the Acceledrome. "He's gone missing, and I need you to come and help look for him. So, what do you think?"

Maru and Talia looked at each other for a moment, shocked and unconvinced looks on their faces.

"What do I think?" Talia demanded incredulously. "What do I think? I think you need to go get some mental help, because either you're high on drugs or this is your sick idea of a twisted practical joke."

"Oh, for the love of racing, give me the phone." A rather familiar voice snarled before apparently ripping the phone out of Lani's hands. "Talia, it's me."

"Terra?" Now Talia sounded really stunned, and Maru almost fell over from shock. "That crazy android finally let you go?"

"Not exactly." Terra replied gruffly. "I'll explain later. Look, what Lani just told you is the truth, Talia. Nolo's missing, and if we don't do something soon, he's most likely going to wind up dead."

Maru blanched, while Talia blinked a few times before sighing.

"When, where, and who?" She asked shortly.

"I'll meet up with you in Headstone Alley at midnight on the twenty first." Terra replied. "Contact the rest of the team - their families are missing, too. I'll meet up with you, and then we'll head back here. Pack light, you won't need much in the California desert."

With that, she cut the connection. Maru and Talia both looked at each other before Talia shrugged.

"Start packing." She ordered. "We're leaving in two days."

"But what about mom?" Maru protested.

"We can't do anything for mom." Talia spit out harshly as she cleaned the motor oil from her hands and slammed the hood of her car shut. "She's in a coma. Nothing we say, and nothing we do can get her to wake up. We can, however, do something to help Nolo. I'm going, alright? You don't have to, but I am."

With that she stormed into the house, snatching her phone from Maru's hand. Maru blinked a few times, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Oh, I'm going alright." She murmured as she pulled a small picture out of her pocket, studying it with indecipherable eyes. "I'm going to go and help win this race. And nothing you can say or do will stop me."

* * *

It was dark in the girl's room, the occupant sprawled on her bed under the covers. The lights were off, and not even a glimmer of moonlight could be seen from behind the curtains. The room was devoid of sound, save for a faint rustle as the girl shifted in her sleep.

Moments later the world resounded with a glorious burst of sound as the cellphone on the nightstand vibrated to life, the blue glow from the screen casting eerie shadows on the walls. The girl bolted upright, looking around wildly, before fixing her glare on the cellphone. With a growl she snatched it from its perch, taking a moment to glance at the caller id and the time before answering it.

"You do know it's midnight, correct?" She snapped, setting the phone to speaker mode and tossing it back down on the table. Was it necessary for her to use the speakerphone? Probably not, but old habits died hard.

"Sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep, Verity." Talia retorted. "Terra just called."

"You're kidding." Her African American friend said flatly.

"Would I joke about something like that?" Talia replied frostily.

"Point taken." Verity admitted. "So, what else is wrong. Don't tell me everything's fine, because if they were you wouldn't have woken me up."

"Apparently our brothers are both missing." The Latina admitted after a few moments. "Not just ours, too. Terra's half brother, Gale's brother, and Aurora's cousin are all gone, as well. This girl named Lani, who apparently has been working with the Teku and the Metal Maniacs, wants us to go out to California and help with the search."

"Really dumb question, but how come we haven't heard about this yet?" Verity sounded confused, very confused. "I would think that the police would investigate if ten people just suddenly turned up missing in close proximity to each other."

"Yeah, about that…" Talia took a deep breath. Time to see what Verity thought about the Realms. "There's something else you kind of need to know…"

* * *

Deep in the alleyways of New York City, an Asian American girl dressed in a long sleeved t-shirt, a black padded vest, and black pants was putting the finishing touches on her latest piece of work. She could have been a fine artist, smearing oils on canvases that would one day hang in museums, but she preferred to work with spray paint and concrete walls instead.

With a smile on her face, she backed up a few feet, surveying her work. Then with a confident smirk plastered on her face she turned and walked away through the darkness, easily finding a path among the rotting rubble.

She emerged into a former scenic overlook, facing the hudson bay. In the distance she could the the Statue of Liberty, and the Manhattan shoreline. Her car, a modified Chevy Avalanche she called Bass Vortex, was parked among the scraggly weeds, the white paint job shining in the moonlight. Reassured, she took a step towards it.

"Hold it, punk."

A cold male voice echoed in the air, and moments later its owner revealed himself by jumping over a crumbling six foot wall. He was joined by another teen that slunk out from behind her car.

"You've got some nerve coming into our territory." The first boy, a teen named Ramone, said. "And we don't take kindly to graffiti artists trying to mark up the place with their own gang symbols.

"Get ready, kid." The second aggressor, another boy who went by the name JJ, warned. "We're going to beat you within an inch of your life.

"Yo, I don't suppose I could get a rain check for that beating?" The girl asked innocently, before the three of them jumped as a phone rang. The boys tensed, while their victim sighed and dug around in her pocket for a moment before pulling out her phone and answering it.

"Yo, Gale Takamoto speaking." She said, before listening intently for a moment. "Oh, hi Talia..yeah, I'm fine...aw, dude, so that's why my bro hasn't called in a while...yeah...no Talia, I'm not doing anything illegal...what, you're serious, there's no way I'm going...okay, earlier comment retracted, I'm in. See you around, man."

With that she terminated the call, before sighing and shoving the phone back in her pocket. With an uneasy grin she regarded her opponents.

"So, about that rain check…" She trailed off as she noticed the glares being thrown her way. With a sigh she glanced down. "I thought so. In that case…"

In a flurry of motion she reached for something lodged in her belt and chucked it at Ramone. With a loud thunk the large throwing knife embedded itself in the wall right next to the boy's ear.

"The next one goes between your eyes." Gale warned, pulling out another knife and twirling it around her hands.

Neither of the boys moved. Gale smirked, an indecipherable look decorating her face.

"So, here's how things are going to work." She said in a deadly tone of voice. "You two are going to let me get my knife, and leave here unharmed. In exchange, you two get to leave here in one piece."

* * *

With a whoop the blonde girl executed a perfect grind off a rail located in the center of the skate park, before flipping up to a higher level, landing softly on her skatepark. She was having the time of her life here at the park. The only thing that was better than skating was racing with her pals on the Tekuano.

Speaking of the Tekuano, she could hear her phone ringing, a sweet electronic music remix that Gale had given her to use as a ringtone. Aurora had set it to go off if any of her racing buddies called so she would know not to ignore the call.

"What's up, Tal?" Aurora asked as she came to a stop, one foot resting on the ground, one putting pressure on her board to lock it into place. "Greenie's missing?...Sure, I'll go look for my cousin...the Metallix are coming? Sweet, I'm in. See you on the twenty first. Bye."

With that she grinned and hung up before skating towards home. She had bags to pack and a car that needed a quick tune up before her trip.

* * *

Maria scowled as she surveyed the girl in front of her, who had only given her the name of Jay to identify herself as. This whole thing was so farfetched it wasn't even funny. Alternate dimensions, aliens, and killer robots only existed within the realm of science fiction. At least, that was what the girl had though. Apparently she was wrong.

Across the abandoned lot Jay matched her scowl, emerald eyes saying what the girl's mouth had not: make up your mind now, otherwise I'm leaving without you.

The eldest Pasero didn't appreciate being put on a deadline, as she had no time to assess the situation. Living in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world had made her a very cautious person when judging situations. It had saved her life multiple times, but it couldn't save her now. She had to make a choice, though she wasn't happy with herself.

"Okay, fine." She muttered. "I'll go. But if this is some kind of a prank-"

"Then I would have revealed it to you long ago, and would have made my escape before you could have reacted." Jay interjected flatly as she turned back towards the portal that was hovering nearby. "Make sure you're going 300 miles an hour. It would be a pity if part of you didn't make the transition."

With that she sped up and vanished into the wormhole. Maria looked around before sighing.

"And I thought Tono was the foolish one." She muttered under her breath with a sigh. "Oh well, no risk no reward I suppose."

With that she returned to her car and took off, heading towards the portal.

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	10. Call to Action (part 2)

**Chapter 10: Call to Action (part 2)**

**6/27/2016**

**Heads up, guys. No doubt some of you have come here because the last chapter I had uploaded before revamping this story was chapter 9. I've revamped this fanfic, so chapters 1-9 are all different now. You should probably go read them first. Sorry for any inconvenience.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

"Hyah!" With a fearsome cry the lithe redhead viciously shattered a board that her quiet ginger haired friend - whose rust colored hair was much noticeably duller than the first girl's flaming crimson mane - had presented to her. The wood broke into five jagged pieces that touched down in a hail of splinters.

"You've gotten a lot better, Skyla." The second girl said. Skyla shrugged.

"Hey, I might as well put all that strength and agility that I got through all that gymnastic training to good use, Calla." She replied. "And while racing gives me that same adrenaline rush that competing did, it's not doing anything for my strength. I worked hard to get to where I am, I'm not going to let my muscles atrophy because I was lazy."

The conversation was cut short by Skyla's phone ringing. The girl rolled her eyes and sighed before answering it.

"If you're looking for a product endorsement or an interview, I'm not interested." She said flatly. "I've had enough of the paparazzi to last me a lifetime."

Calla watched as her friend's eyes narrowed her eyes and listened for a moment to whoever was on the other end.

"Okay, assuming I actually believe that what you just told me is real and not the world's lamest practical joke, why should I trust you?"

She listened for a few more minutes, before sighing.

"Fine. If the Tekuano are going to be there, than we'll go. But if this is some kind of joke, and you're just pretending to be Terra, you're going to pay."

With that, she hung up. Calla raised an eyebrow and looked over at her friend.

"Product endorsement? Paparazzi?" She inquired. Skyla rolled her eyes.

"You would think that even though it's been two years since I won gold at the Olympics, and considering the fact that the car accident was right after that and I haven't competed since that no one would be interested in me." She mused before sighing. "I really can't complain. I mean, it does pays the bills and gives me more than enough money to buy the things we need for our cars."

"Yeah, I guess." Calla replied. "So, what's this about us going to some race with the Tekuano? Did they not appreciate us Metallix whipping their butts the last time we competed?"

"It's complicated. I'll explain on the way there." Skyla replied. "Pack your bags, we're going to be gone for a very long time."

* * *

Morning light danced across the girl's face as she tossed and turned in her sleep, muttering things about cars and races. Her peace was shattered, however, by an alarm clock raucously singing it's wordless tunes. The girl groaned and blindly flailed a hand around trying to locate the source of the sound. Eventually she made contact, and trapped the battered device in her vice like grip. She then promptly hurled it into the wall. The glass shattered, the mechanisms popped out, and the sound died away with a very sad thunk.

Jette groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes before groaning as she took in the sight of her alarm clock.

"I have got to stop doing that." She muttered before stiffening as she realized that she could smell food, and hear soft footsteps. The Asian American was the only one in the house currently, which could only mean that someone had broken in."

Looking around, she sighed as she realized that all her weapons were downstairs. So, somewhat reluctantly, the girl picked up a well used foam NERF sword from the floor, the remnants of a halloween costume from days gone by.

"Note to self: start keeping my throwing knives under my pillow again." She muttered before sighing once more and addressing her rather unconventional weapon. "Oh well, I suppose that you'll have to do for now."

With that she stealthily crept out of her room and down the steps, towards the kitchen. Jette could see the intruder sitting at the table with her back to the master of the house. Silently Jette raised her sword.

"I do hope you aren't planning on attacking me, sis." Terra said nonchalantly. "Because that would be a really lousy way to welcome me back."

Jette shrieked and jumped backwards, knocking over a table and sending stuff flying. With a groan she sat up from the ground, certain that she would have some lovely bruises come morning, courtesy of her rough landing. The teen shook her head a few times to clear it before staring up at her visitor. Her older sister, in all her cyborg glory, calmly met her gaze.

"Terra? What are you doing here?" Jette wondered aloud, earning a smirk as the cyborg took another bite out of her toast.

"Morning, sis." She said nonchalantly. "You're out of coffee."

It was a totally mundane thing to talk about, considering the circumstances of the last time she had seen her sister she was under the control of a murderous psychopathic android. Jette laughed nervously, assuming that since Terra had yet to kill her, she was probably okay.

"Yeah, whatever." Jette replied as she stood up and brushed herself off. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Taro's missing." Her sister said by a way of answer. Jette blinked a few times in confusion.

"And I care about our mother's rich employer's equally rich son why?" She asked as she plopped down in a chair across from her sister, who was looking at Jette in shock.

"Are you really that dense?" Terra wondered incredulously, before frowning. "On second thought, don't answer that."

"How come you suddenly care about Taro?" The youngest Kitano demanded. "Cause I was pretty sure that you hated his guts!"

"Taro's father had an affair with our mother, and about nine months later mom had the two of us, which means that Taro's our half brother." Terra informed her in frustration. "That's why that man was always so nice to us, because he knew that if he did anything to treat mom badly, she'd rat him out to his wife. Do I need to say it in Latin, or will that grossly simplified explanation suffice?"

Jette blinked a few times before bursting into laughter, falling out of her chair on onto the floor in what was actually a very comical motion.

"Oh, that's rich." She wheezed out between her chuckles. "You actually think that I'm going to believe for a second that our plain old mother who preaches on about being morally pure and not committing adultery and robbery and all those other things seduced a rich man and kept him unaware of her socioeconomic situation long enough to get pregnant? That's too funny!"

"I wasn't lying." Terra retorted, instantly causing Jette to sober up.

"You weren't?" The girl said, sounding slightly ill.

"Taro's father didn't tell mom that he was married and had a kid." Terra spat. "Once she found out, she broke it off. Six years later, she goes to his mansion to interview for a maids position, only to find out that her prospective employer is not only rich, but also the guy she had an affair with six years prior."

"So we have a brother." Jette said, a grin crawling across her face. "Sweet, so what's this about rescuing him, and this big race."

"What makes you think there's a race?" Terra wondered idly. Jette grinned.

"It's simple, really." She said in rare moment of genius. "If you're informing me of this, then that means that the rest of the Metallix are going, since I know you wouldn't drag me away from the group like this. And if you're going, which I assume that you are, then that means the Tekuano are going too. And if you put the Metallix and the Tekuano in one place, sooner or later someone is going to get bored, and the next thing we know we'll have a race on our hands. So, where are we going?"

"Pack your bags." Terra replied. "It's a long story, and I'm not going to sit here for an hour explaining it. You want an explanation, you can wait until we're on our way."

Jette squealed in delight when she heard that and charged out of the room, snagging a backpack from the bottom of the stairs. Terra watched her go for a moment before sighing.

"For all she knows I could be plotting her murder right now, and she wouldn't care." The girl muttered to herself. "I have got to remind her not to be so trusting."

* * *

Chase smirked as he finished wrapping the newspaper around his algebra teacher's car. Sure, he'd get in trouble, but then again Mr. Clark would never figure out who had wrapped his car up like a demented birthday gift anyway. With a soft snicker he affixed a brightly colored pink bow - an insult to the buff varsity football coach's masculinity - before running out of the parking lot.

"Chase, you've really outdone yourself this time." He said as he stifled another laugh. He really had. First he had filled the teacher's car with party balloons, then covered the car with cellophane wrap, then wrapped that with a layer of newspaper, than mummified that layer with duct tape, and then finally put one last layer of newspaper, and the bow.

It was a shame that he couldn't stick around to see the teacher's reaction, but he didn't want to get caught. Besides, someone was bound to get a recording of the whole thing.

As he walked home in the dusk, his phone shattered the silence with a burst of sound. The teen jumped, ice blue eyes darting around suspiciously, before pulling out his phone and answering it.

"Hello?" He whispered, trying not to attract attention. "Yes, this is Chase Eiss...yeah, I'm part of the Metallix...yes, she's my sister...what? You have got to be joking, there's no way that...oh, so you aren't joking...okay, I got it. I'll get ready to head out immediately."

All humor gone, he hurried home to start packing. But there was a touch of fear in his heart as he prepared his car. Karma was one of the toughest racers around. If she had been captured, then what chance would he have?

* * *

Shane frowned as he stood on the beach, his car parked nearby. Lani had called him up out of nowhere, and she was acting kind of strange. Her bright and bubbly personality was suspiciously absent, and she had spoken in a rather quiet voice. The call itself lasted only long enough for the older racer to inform Shane to pack his bags, bring his car to their secret beach and wait until midnight. She was going to come and pick him up.

The moon danced upon the water, nearly a perfect circle on the unnaturally still sea. Small waves lapped at the shore, and the black sand sparkled in the starlight. It was a perfect evening.

A dull roar filled the air, and a bright flash disrupted the tranquil night. Shane shielded his eyes from the radiance, dropping his hand only when he could be certain that the lights had dimmed.

To his immense shock, Lani was standing on the beach, leaning up against a sleek purple and silver car. But what was even more shocking was the fact that hovering out over the ocean was a deep blue and purple portal, flickering in the night and casting about wild flares of flames, illuminating the now choppy ocean with an unearthly brilliance. Shane blinked a few times, before laughing uneasily.

"You know, I've seen you in some pretty strange situations." He said. "But this has to top them all. So, care to clue me in as to what's going on?"

"Aw, you mean I actually have to tell you?" Lani asked with a playful grin on her face. "C'mon, Shane, don't you trust me not to lead you into any situation that would cause you harm?"

"No." Shane replied. Lani laughed.

"How about I give you the five minute explanation now, and the longer explanation on our way to the mainland then?" She inquired. "Will that suffice for a skeptic like you?"

"I suppose." Shane reluctantly admitted. "So, what's this thing you told me about a race?"

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	11. The New Acceledrome

**Chapter 11: The New Acceledrome**

**A big thanks to Needy Nancy for following this fic!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

Tork chose to ignore the footage on the screen for a moment - though from the snippets of action that he caught, it appeared that this Terra person had met up with her racing team and was filling them in on Accelian matters - and instead turned his attention to Taro. The Asian American had his trademark stoic look on his face, despite being outed as a millionaire.

"If you're waiting for me to comment on my monetary status, we're going to be here for quite a while." The object of his attention said nonchalantly. Tork blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"You're rich." He finally managed to say. Taro shrugged, casting his gaze about the cell as he tried to pinpoint one fatal flaw in the design that they could use to get out of the room. Sadly, the place seemed to be escape-proof. A pity, but he would find a way out of here eventually.

"And that matters why?" The tight-lipped racer wondered idly.

"I don't think you get the point." Tork informed him. "You're rich."

"Yes, I think we've established that." Taro's reply would have caused most people to snap, but Tork wasn't like most people. If he could deal with Wylde on a day to day basis, he most certainly could deal with his second in command. But the fact that Taro was acting like this startling revelation wasn't a big deal was maddening.

The amused smirk on the man's face - Tork could count on one hand the number of times he had seen Taro smile - wasn't helping things, either.

"So, I didn't know that either of you had siblings." Tone piped up, breaking the brewing tension in the room. Tork scowled again, but figured that he would have plenty of time to press his teammate for details later. So, somewhat reluctantly, he dropped the subject.

"The same could be said for you." He pointed out. Tone shrugged, conceding the fact that he had failed to mention his three sisters, before something occurred to him.

"You don't think that those other kids were related to the rest of the Teku and the Metal Maniacs, do you?" He asked. "I mean, if I had to guess Gale's related to Shirako, and I know for a fact that Chase is Karma's younger brother."

"Well, Verity's my sister." Tork admitted. "If I had to guess, I'd say that Skyla is related to Pork Chop, and Calla's probably related to Monkey."

"Aurora's related to Vert." Taro supplied.

"How do you know that?" Tork asked.

"Vert means green in French." The Asian American said with a shrug. "I'd assume that Aurora came up with that nickname to annoy him. And supposedly Jette and Terra are my sisters."

"And that just leaves Jay." Tork finished up. "But she doesn't look like any of the Teku or the Metal Maniacs, and she hasn't explicitly stated that she's related to any of us."

No doubt the prisoners would have started theorizing who the girl was related to, but their attention was diverted when Nolo groaned and blearily opened his eyes.

* * *

Skyla blinked a few times as she turned in a circle, observing her new home. It was odd, to be certain. The main room was easily as high as a three story building, a long orange track winding through the air with little to no support. It curved along the walls, disappearing into a small tunnel before abruptly cutting off for several meters. It reappeared after that, winding its way back down to earth. Jay had added an extra piece to the track, and Terrabyte had reprogrammed the hologram to spit the drivers out onto it whenever a person exited the Realm. Lani wasn't sure how the girls had managed to rebuild the Acceledrome, let alone enlarge it and add in more track, but she wasn't going to question it. It was much safer to have the cars come out at a predetermined point and funneled to one of the unused garages instead of having them come flying out nowhere. There had been a few times when one of the previous racers had almost been squashed, and Lani did not like the idea of having to clean the flattened remnants of a corpse off of the floor.

Calla and Gale, as the mechanics of their respective teams, were busy examining the hydraulic lifts in the garages, as well as the wide variety of car parts available for them to fix their cars with. The place seemed pretty high tech, and the latest tools were available for their use, something that pleased the pair immensely. According to Lani, there were even more gadgets and gizmos in the basement. The place even had a test track up on the fourth floor.

Talia and Verity were examining the dorm rooms. Jay had expanded this part of the building when she rebuilt the Acceledrome, doubling the number of rooms. Instead of fifteen rooms there were now thirty, each one with a name and insignia engraved on the door. Talia frowned as she reached out to lightly brush her fingers across the Teku symbol on the door to what was apparently her brother's room, a touch of sadness in her eyes.

"Do you think we'll find them?" She asked, glancing over at Verity who was lightly tracing the carving of her brother's name, examining the Metal Maniac's symbol with a keen eye.

"We have to have faith." The African American replied. "If we don't believe we can win this race, then we won't. It is as simple as that."

She would have said more, but the Acceledrome's resident jokers - Aurora, Chase, and Jette - came running down the hall, examining the team symbols on the doors as they raced by. The Tekuano's symbol was extremely similar to the insigna that the Teku used - warped Japanese kanji that stood for the word techno. Technically their team name was a corruption of the word - techno translated into japanese as tekuno - but Aurora had insisted that they add the "a", saying it made the name look cooler. The group really didn't care either way, and their crazy blonde friend had been rather persistent.

The Tekuano were pretty laid back on the surface - but the group wasn't to be taken lightly. The girls were all fierce competitors, and their drive to win was what enabled them to become some of the most feared racers on the eastern coast. They were music lovers to the highest degree, choosing to herald their coming with some sweet techno beats. In some cases, they weren't all that different from the Teku, but what made them unique was their sense of racing. They were not flashy, nor were they showy like the Teku. They preferred to let their driving skills, rather than their music, do the talking. Not to mention the fact that they had a few hidden tricks, courtesy of their best friends/rivals, that the Teku didn't have.

The Metallix's symbol was a bit more creative. Chase had taken a stylized M and superimposed 111101000 on it, the letter m in binary code. It certainly fit in with the tech-savvy group. The Tekuano and the Teku both were interested in messing around with technology and inventing new products to give them an edge in winning their races, but they both paled in comparison to the Metallix. Chase and Calla were both amazing with computers, and Shane was better than both of them. Skyla and Jetter, though not as amazing with computers, were able to contribute to the group's technological products in her group.

The team's core focus on technology had led them to develop some rather remarkable things. The group had created a stronger, more durable metal alloy that the group had used to construct their cars, reinforcing them so they could withstand greater impacts. The group had also been experimenting with nanotechnology, creating a paint -for lack of a better word - that could be reprogrammed to change the appearance of of their vehicle, even allowing for it to become invisible if the driver so wished. And that was simply what was available on the surface. Rumor in the racing underworld was that no one, not even the Tekuano, knew exactly what the Metallix were hiding under their hoods.

Maru frowned as she studied the laboratory that Lani had said belonged to this strange and mysterious Dr. Tezla, picking up a computer file saved on a group of discs, deducing that it was either a diary or research notes. It was heavily encrypted, though Maru figured that she should be able to crack the code, though its presence raised even more questions as to who was pulling all the strings here. With a sigh she returned to her room, pulling out the small laptop that Gale had built her. The girl sat down on her bed, slipping the first of many disks into her computer, opening up the file.

"Research notes of Doctor Tezla." The girl read aloud, her eyes pouring over the only unencoded part of the file. "So, perhaps this contains information on these Realms that people keep on talking about. Interesting…"

With a small sigh she cracked her knuckles before narrowing her eyes in concentration.

"Alright." She said. "Let's see what you've got under the hood, my friend."

* * *

"I think you owe us an explanation." Maru said as she burst into the conference an hour later. "You're not telling us everything about these Realms."

Lani blinked a few times, wondering what she was talking about.

"I don't know a lot about the Realms." She said with a sigh. "If anything had even the slightest connection to the Accelerons it was classified information. Dr. Tezla didn't trust anyone but himself and Gig with that information."

"Terra and I might be able to find some more information in the Archives and Gelorum's files." Jay suggested. "Why don't we head into Highway 35 after you all make the necessary modifications to your cars?"

This last statement was directed at the Tekuano and the Metallix, who looked at each other in confusion. Modifications? What modifications were they talking about? Perhaps Jay was suggesting that their vehicles weren't fit for interdimensional travel, or she didn't have faith in their vehicles. Regardless, it annoyed more than one of the drivers, and Maria decided to call her bluff.

"My car went into this Highway 35 just fine, without the modifications." She pointed out, folding her arms as she leaned back into the chair. "Why are these modifications necessary?"

"To answer your challenge, the reason your car didn't implode the minute you entered the portal was because I shielded it from the brunt of the energy."

"And what happens if we try to enter Highway 35 without your help, or these modifications that you keep on talking about?" Skyla demanded in a bored tone.

"You'll arrive in the other dimension." Terra admitted. "Whether or not you'll arrive with your cars or all your limbs remains to be seen."

"This isn't some game we're playing here." Jay reminded them in a serious tone, surveying the teenagers. "People's lives are at stake, and not just ours. Either all of you take this seriously, including what Terra and I tell you, because if you don't, we could wind up dead."

* * *

**Finished! Leave me a review!**


	12. Nowhere Fast

**Chapter 12: Nowhere Fast**

**I'm back. Sorry it took so long for me to update this story. **

**I've got one review!  
**

**Jedi Jelsa777: Thanks, as always, for the kind words. Yes, I suppose that Nolo could faint, but he just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would do that. I've got a few ideas for the little reunion scene, though, so hopefully you enjoy them.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

The sun slipped above the horizon, spreading multicolored flames across the sky. The fresh salty scent of the ocean perfumed the air, while the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs. An old and decrepit parking ramp clung to the side of the cliff, the remnants of what was once a popular tourist destination, grimly surveyed the abandoned, driftwood strewn beach below.

Gage sighed as he carefully picked his way across the beach, looking over at Archer in the distance. The triplets were away at some racing tournament, no doubt striking fear into other racers hearts with their skill on the track and their penchant for practical jokes off it. The younger kids were still sleeping, though Nova, Xio, and Xavier were already up and getting breakfast going. Before they left, Xael had managed to swim out to a small rocky outcrop in the bay and catch some fish for the next few days. Some of that was on the small fire right now for breakfast, and more was in a pot that was bubbling away in a dented pot over the flames. That would be eaten later, either for lunch or dinner.

The boy sighed and shook his head, shaggy black hair temporarily obscuring his vision as he took another step forward. His foot smashed against something hard, making him yelp in pain. Hearing his partner's cry, Archer looked up. Gage quickly motioned that he was alright, and with a small wave the older boy returned to his search.

Biting back a swear word, the boy looked down to examine what he had stubbed his toes on. It was a piece of iron shelving, probably the remnants of a shipping container that had washed up from that shipwreck that had happened a few weeks ago. If Gage looked closely, he could just see the outline of the doomed ship on the horizon, jutting up out of the sea as it precariously balanced on the very rocks it had run aground on. Xio had been discussing swimming out and seeing if anything was salvageable from the wreck.

With a sigh Gage set about freeing the crumpled sheets of metal from the sand. The boy wasn't sure what he would use it for, but he was certain he would find something to do with it.

* * *

When the pair returned to the old parking garage, they found that breakfast was in full swing. Kick and Yashimabet were eating over by the stairwell, the two young girls giggling over a few magazines that they had borrowed from the library. Xavier was finishing up the last of his schoolwork, while the youngest of the four kids - seven year old Max - was happily chowing down on the last of his fish.

"Find anything good?" Nova asked as Archer and Gage walked in, lugging the tattered strips of metal.

"Aside from this, nothing." Archer replied as they propped the aluminum up against one of the walls and pulled some of the fish off of the fire. "Did we miss anything, Crypto?" Nova shook her head and went back to working on her laptop. She had taken the high-tech device with her when she left her family's home, and now used it to perform internet odd jobs. Currently a museum was paying her to try and hack into their security systems to expose any weaknesses.

The rather unusual group ate their meal in silence. The older teens - Gage, Archer, Xiomara, and Nova - were a gang of homeless street racers that had taken up residence in the old crumbling parking garage that overlooked the ocean, making it their base of operations. The triplets also raced with them, injecting some much needed humor into the drab building. Also living in the decrepit structure were four younger kids; street orphans that Nova had taken in. Xavier, aged thirteen, had been kicked out of his home by his parents when he was nine; ten year old Kick had been the daughter of a drug dealer; eight year old Yashimabet had been a thief that had tried to steal some of their tools, only to be offered a place to stay; and six year old Max had been the son of a drug addict that had begged Nova to take the boy in.

"Okay, kiddos." Nova eventually said. "Go wash up. It's time to go to school."

"But Ma Tezla!" The kids protested simultaneously.

"No buts." Nova replied firmly. "I want you all ready to go in ten minutes."

A few of the kids kept on complaining, but their grumblings subsided as they walked upstairs. Nova sighed and rubbed her temples while Xio began cleaning up the dishes.

"One day those kids will be the death of me." The albino muttered while Xio smiled.

"You enjoy having them around." She pointed out rather unhelpfully. "If you didn't want kids, you wouldn't have taken them in."

"I know, I know." Nova said with a sigh. "So, are you swimming out to the wreck today or not?"

Xiomara nodded once, before excusing herself to go upstairs to change. Gage and Archer both were finishing their meals, though their leader knew that the two of them had a few races lined up for the day. Archer had also kindly agreed to drive Xavier to the junior high school before he left for the day, leaving Nova to take the younger three to the elementary school.

Speaking of the kids, they ran back down the ramp with their backpacks, ready to go to the school. A brief smile flited across Nova's face, though it was tinged with sadness. She knew that the four kids already had a better life than the ones they had left behind, but at the same time she regretted that she couldn't do more for them. All of them were going nowhere fast, and chances were they would be on the streets for the rest of their lives.

But the twenty three year old pushed those rather depressing thoughts out of her head as her charges followed her down to the garage, where her beloved car Cryptonian was parked. She had modified a Trans Am, tricking it out with the best gear she could either find or create. It was wicked fast, able to hit a top speed of two hundred miles an hour, but was at the same time easy to control. She had designed it herself back when she was sixteen with the help of her father. It was one of the few things she had left of her past life.

Nova sighed and pushed those thoughts aside as the children clambered into the car. She had no business dwelling on the past.

* * *

**Finished! So, what do you think? Leave me a review to let me know!**


	13. I'm Dreaming, Right?

**Chapter 13: I'm Dreaming, Right?**

**I'm not dead! **

**Okay, now that that's been clarified, I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to upload. I've been having a ton of writer's block since September, and then I had a part in my school's fall play (we did Romeo and Juliet, I was the apothecary/monk/prince's guard/honorary Montague, it was awesome), All-State and All-County auditions to do (they're instrumentalist competitions), and I kept on getting sick! I kid you not, since October 31th of 2015 I have had two colds, bronchitis, a sinus infection, an ear infection, the flu (which knocked me out for two weeks) and a smattering of other various afflictions. I also had a final exam in Calculus, and I had my wisdom teeth yanked. In other words, life has been treating me as its own personal chew toy. **

**But now I'm back, and hopefully this time I won't stare at a half written chapter for four and a half months. And to make it up to you all, I don't just have one chapter - I've got two for your viewing pleasure! Here's hoping you enjoy them!**

**Jedi Jelsa777: Thanks again for the review! I hope you like these next two installments. And again, I do apologize for the rather prolonged absence.**

**Disclaimer: You all know the drill, people. I don't own, you don't sue, and everyone's happy!**

* * *

"Man, what did they use to knock us out?" Nolo groaned, massaging his temples with his hand. He had a killer headache, and something told him that there wasn't any painkillers he'd be able to take to try and get rid of it.

"How should I know?" Taro muttered.

"The headache and the dizziness go away after a few minutes." Tork informed the teen, taking pity on him. Nolo groaned again and muttered a few words under his breath in Spanish. The two Metal Maniacs had no idea what the Latino had said, but apparently it was something funny. The corners of Tone's mouth twitched, and a hint of laughter appeared in his dark eyes.

"You know, our mother would wash your mouth out with soap if she heard you talking like that." The elder of the Pasero brothers informed the groggy teen.

"Yeah, well what mom doesn't know won't kill her." Nolo automatically retorted before it registered that none of his siblings should be anywhere near him. And then there was the fact that the voice of the speaker was hauntingly familiar.

Slowly the Teku leader lifted his head to gaze directly at his older brother, a blank look on his face.

"Okay, I'm either dreaming, dead, hallucinating, or some strange combination of all three." He muttered, blinking a few times. Now Tone really did laugh, a smile appearing on his face.

"You wound me, Nolito." He claimed, not noticing or caring about the irritated expression that flashed across his younger brother's face. "You're very much alive and awake."

"How…" So shocked was Nolo that he couldn't even finish his sentence, letting his voice trail off as he stumbled over to the table, relieved to see that Tork and Taro were both alive as well. Instead he could only look at his fellow racers, his eyes asking what his voice could not. Sadly his hopes for an explanation were dashed when Taro shrugged and Tork shook his head.

"Not even I have any idea how I survived that crash, bro." Tone said, finally managing to quiet his laughter. "What makes you think that they'd know?"

Before Nolo could answer, an outraged shout emanated from the television drew their attention. On the screen Talia was busy prying her foot out from underneath her tire, swearing furiously in Spanish, while two other Latinas were trying to help her. Nolo frowned.

"What're our sisters doing at the Acceledrome?" He asked, a confused look on his face.

"Lani recruited them to help look for us." Tork replied before the three men brought their fellow racer up to speed on what he had missed. A lot had happened in the forty eight hours since the sole Teku and the two Metal Maniacs had arrived in Tone's cell. Needless to say, Nolo was stunned to find out that Tone knew all about the Realms, and had been watching both the Teku and the Metal Maniac's exploits in the Realms since the two teams had made it to the Acceledrome. He also was a bit ashamed and embarrassed. If Tone had been watching, he knew how Nolo had been acting for the past couple of years. Part of him was waiting for Tone to say something about it, but for reasons unbeknownst to the younger Pasero brother, Tone kept quiet about his actions.

* * *

"Maria's going to massacre you when she finds out you aren't dead." Nolo said some time later after the four cellmates had finished catching up on what they missed.

"You think I don't know that, bro?" Tone replied in what was perhaps an indignant tone of voice. "Of course she's going to massacre me."

"Just out of curiosity, why do you keep saying that?" Tork wondered. Judging from what he had seen on the video so far, Maria was rather mild mannered, and Talia was more of a hothead than either the youngest or eldest of the Pasero sisters.

"Because she will." Tone retorted, as if that mere sentence explained everything.

"Perhaps an explanation would be better." Taro suggested calmly as he continued to study the cell, nevermind the fact that so far he had been observing it for several hours at this point and had yet to find any flaw. There was always a flaw in any system - humans were not perfect, after all, and nothing that they built was either. It could be borderline perfect, but there had to be at least one flaw, otherwise logic said that it could not exist. Perfection was and is a myth to humans, after all, and so far no one had been able to make the myth a reality.

"Look, I get it that she seems nice." Tone said, gesturing to the television that was still occasionally sparking into life to display a video feed that was no doubt being broadcasted from some hidden camera in the Acceledrome. "And she is. But if she gets mad, she makes Wylde look tame."

It was a bit disconcerting to hear Tone talk about Wylde as if he had personal experience with the man; especially regarding the fact that Wylde had joined the Metal Maniacs after the crash that had supposedly ended Tone's life. It took the others a few minutes to remember that Tone had pretty much seen all of their crazy adventures in the Acceledrome while he had been trapped in the cell. While he may have never met Wylde in person, he had certainly seen enough of his actions to be able to accurately describe him as if he had known him.

"She does?" Tork was mildly concerned for a moment. Wylde was bad enough, the last thing that he needed was to have to deal with a girl that was just like him. In his experience one of two things happened when two or more people with similar personalities were in constant contact with each other: they'd either get along famously or continually but heads. Judging from the way that Tone was describing Maria, and knowing what he knew about Wylde, the chances of the former happening would be slim to none.

Then again, stranger things had happened. And the pair could always end up defying the odds and get along famously.

"Oh, you better believe she does." Nolo muttered. Considering the fact that his dead older brother whom he had idolized not only wasn't dead but was sitting right next to the him, the Latino was processing the startling revelation rather well. At least, he appeared to be. For all the others knew, he could just as easily be in denial now over his brother being alive, much as he had been in denial over his brother's death for a few months. If that was the case - which, unbeknownst to the others, it was - he'd probably break down sooner or later.

"Yeah." Tone said glumly. "She's going to kill me."

Tork and Taro looked at each other. It seemed a bit odd that the man would be so worried about Maria, but then again they did not know who she was or what kind of person Maria was. Tone could merely be exaggerating. But a ghastly look was etched on his face, and Nolo bore a similar look of dread. Chances were the pair of brothers was telling the truth. Tork made a mental note not to cross Maria if he ever met her in person. If Tone was worried about angering her, then she wasn't one to be taken lightly.

* * *

**And finished! So, what do you all think? Let me know with a review!**


	14. Houston, We've Got a Problem

**Chapter 14: Houston, We've Got a Problem**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing official!**

* * *

"You're kidding me."

"Would I joke about something like this?" Terra replied in response to Lani's question, her voice flat and monotonous. It perfectly matched the apathetic look adorning her face.

"Helpful hint." Aurora piped up from where she was balancing on her hands in the corner of the conference room, snickering slightly as she watched Skyla pin Chase and Jette with a glare. The two mischievous members of the Metallix had been sneaking up on her with a bucket of slime, ready to dump it all over the former gymnast's head. A pity she had heard them. "Even before that old rusted tin can hag nabbed her, she didn't joke about anything."

"Yeah, that's for sure." Chase added cheerily before yelping as Jette suddenly turned on him with a wicked glint in her eyes. The green ooze that was meant to be poured over her leader instead was unceremoniously tossed over him. It was a cold, slimy substance that dripped down his body and all over his clothing. Unfortunately for Karma's brother, it happened to be easily absorbed by the fibers, and soon he wasn't able to move without his clothing making squishing sounds, his every step punctuated by a large squelching noise emanating from his sneakers.

"I'm going to get you for that later." He groaned, while Skyla rolled her eyes and sighed. Lani kindly handed Jette a roll of paper towels, and the girl got to work cleaning up the rather catastrophic mess she had created.

"Yeah, but the look on your face was totally worth it." She snickered in reply.

"Honestly Jette, was now really an appropriate time to do that?" Terra inquired.

"Oh lighten up a little, sis." Jette replied dismissively. "I swear you wouldn't know what having fun was even if it planted a good solid kick right on your rear end."

"Humans naturally do not have any bioluminescent capabilities. And fun is a concept, not a being. As it does not have a physical body, it is not capable of applying a calculated force to my posterior." Now Terra sounded a bit exasperated. "We aren't here to have fun, Jette, we're here to rescue the Teku and the Metal Maniacs. Would it kill you to behave?"

"I am behaving." Jette retorted brightly, a wide smile plastered on her face. "Whether not I'm behaving properly is another matter."

"Oh, nice one!" Aurora said through a grin, holding a hand up for a high-five. Jette happily obliged her, while Terra sighed and rubbed her temples, already wondering why she had thought that her sister would be mature by now.

"No offence, but you kind of set yourself up for that one." Jay murmured in a not so helpful tone. Terra glared at the Death Mystic, who merely shrugged to say that if she hadn't pointed it out, someone else would have.

"Jokes aside, we're losing focus." Verity's voice brought a bit of calm back to the group. "Why exactly won't the Realms open? The Wheel's hologram seems to be functioning normally."

"We have the program for the holographic wheel up and running, but the program that has the procedures for allowing portals to open and close is stored in a separate file." Jay explained. "It's been locked up, so we can't access it without a key; and neither Terra nor I have said key."

"Let me get this straight." Talia demanded. "You have an entire supercomputer that has been crafted with alien technology wired up to your brain, and you have a veritable encyclopedia of alien knowledge tucked away inside your head -not to mention one of the most powerful Accelian artifacts in existence - and you can't access a file because you don't know the password?"

"It's not that simple, Talia." Maru replied as she looked up from her laptop. The youngest Pasero sister had still been forbidden from racing by Talia, and thus had instead opted to help out Terra and Jay instead. It had been a smart choice - the girl turned out to be quite the talented hacker, and had thus been put in charge of combing through Tezla's more personal files to see if any information could be found in there. A violation of privacy, yes, but in the circumstances it was justified. "Tezla may have been a paranoid old man with money to burn and an ego bigger than Mount Everest, but the man was a genius. Hacking into his systems isn't child's play."

Lani almost choked when she heard Maru's rather accurate description of her boss, but managed to hold it together in front of the others. It was rather funny to hear the thirteen year old, arguably barely more than a mere child, state that trying to digitally infiltrate the systems the Hawaiian's employer had wasn't child's play to another person who arguably wasn't much past childhood herself.

"If it were any other person, we'd be in already." Terra muttered. "But Tezla wasn't just any old corporate billionaire." Talia sighed rather dramatically at the patronizing remarks and flopped her head down on the table, he chin resting on crisscrossed arms.

"Quit with the praises and just cut to the chase already." She groaned out. "The less drivel there is, the quicker we can go rescue the missing drivers.

Maria looked over at the first of her two sisters, before her gaze drifted over to meet Maru's. There was a silent question in her eye, one that asked why on earth the second youngest of the Pasero family was acting so strangely. If she was hoping for an answer, the Latina was looking in the wrong place. Maru shrugged and shook her head.

"I can't get into the system because Tezla somehow managed to create a security barrier that prevents both Drone and Silencerz technology from being used to hack into the files." Terra finally explained, trying very hard not to snap and strangle her leader right then and there. "Jay can't get into the system using her powers because the energy surge would wipe the data clean. The same thing happens if we try to remove just the security barrier by hacking - it starts to delete the files, and the further you get in the more it deletes. We haven't lost anything yet because it is programmed to restore the files if the hacking stops and the barrier is repaired. It really is a marvel of technology."

"So we're stuck." It turned out that Gale actually was paying attention, despite the pounding electronica music blaring from her headphones. Jay nodded once, acknowledging the fact that they were at a loss.

"Is there any way you guys could maybe write your own program?" Calla inquired.

"Perhaps, but we'd need a lot of time to do it." Maru replied.

"Define a lot." Shane requested.

"If we got lucky, we'd have a prototype up and running in about two years." Jay stated flatly. This left quite the impression on the rest of the occupants of the Acceledrome. The trio of pranksters stopped their quiet chuckles and stared at the girl blankly. For a moment, there was silence. Two whole years for just a prototype? Either Tezla was smart, or he had spent an awfully long time working on trying to enter the Realms.

Either that or he had just used some of the Silencerz tech. But the new racing teams couldn't just walk up to the government agency's base - wherever that happened to be - and just ask if they could have a copy of all of the files concerning the holographic Wheel of Power. No, the only thing that would get them was incarceration.

"So, where do we go from here?" Lani asked softly, breaking the silence.

"There is the possibility that Tezla worked on this with other people besides the Silencerz." Maru was the one to answer her. "I'm hunting through his files to see if maybe there's any mention of another person. If there is, they might either know the password, or they might be able to help recreate the program. It's not ideal, but for now it is our only shot of getting back into the Realms."

* * *

**Finished! So, what do you think? Let me know with a review!**


End file.
